Live and Let Live
by AlexaAres
Summary: Josh and Aidan figured that, between the two of them, being human wouldn't be that difficult. They were wrong. With new neighbors and a conspiracy to destroy everything they've ever cared about, Josh and Aidan need to keep on their toes.
1. Prologue

**A/n: So...Yep. Another Story. I'm Preston, a Co-Author of this fic. I wrote the prologue, but the POV of Sammi will be written by my good friend Amylase. We dreamt up this fic about a day ago, and then we just got to it. Enjoy!**

_Hi I'm Amylase, a co-author of this fic. So a little bit about me: I like older men, animals, and am way overly obsessive about almost everything in my life. Jk about the older men part, but seriously a friend once suggested I make a new years resolution to not obsess so much... that lasted about 5 minutes. Like Preston said, we thought this up about a day ago and couldn't stop talking about it. So hope you like it!_

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**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.****

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The pictures were horrifying, psychologically damaging in their own way. He seemed fine, that last morning when Aidan and Josh saw Officer Gariety - a little slow, contemplative, but normal. The thought crossed his mind that Bishop was behind it, that he had decided to take things into his own hands and teach him a lesson. But that wasn't what happened. Bishop wouldn't have shown him the pictures of Garriety hadn't killed himself - it wouldn't have had the same effect.

Aidan would never know why he did it, perhaps he lost his sense of purpose, or he failed to erase Garriety's memory properly and he just couldn't cope with the knowledge of what the world really contained. Or, on a longer shot, maybe Bishop did kill him and only did it to get a reaction out of him. Whatever the reason, Aidan knew it was his fault. No matter what he did, no matter how he tried, he couldn't stop hurting people. Aidan sighed, his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes free of exhaustion and depression.

Bishop was becoming a problem, one that needed to be taken care of - elsewise, he would have to move again. And Bishop would follow him again, and the cycle would repeat. Aidan didn't want to go through that again, not now that he had friends, a home - a stable job. He would have to be dealt with. Deep in thought, he barely registered Josh's presence.

"Could this shift _be_ any longer?" Josh groaned, rolling his neck.

Aidan's head snapped up, startled. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"You ok?"

"I'm good. Just a little burned out. It isn't all that cheerful in the ER."

"Yeah...you're right. Hey, I know something that'll cheer you up. Come on!"

Aidan followed him reluctantly, allowing himself to be led out of the cafe, his cup of crappy hospital coffee left on the table.

"There's a new patient giving Doctor Rosenburg hell. She's driving him up a wall with her incessant chatter - and attached-at-the-hip-best-friend."

"And I'm interested, why?"

Josh paused only momentarily before grinning. "You'll see."

As they rounded the corner, Aidan heard shouting.

"This is all your fault!"

"It is not!"

"Carson, you know how much of a klutz you are - _why _would you have gotten on that ladder?"

"The light bulb was out! I went to Harvard, Sammi, I am perfetly capable of changing a light bulb."

"We both went to Harvard. That _does not _make you qualified to change a light bulb."

"Well...you're the one who wanted the vaulted ceilings to use as a movie screen for the projector you bought!"

"...Carson, the 'movie-on-the-ceiling' was _your_ idea. Besides, I only agreed to take the place because you wanted the loft with window seats!"

"Wanted, not required! I am perfectly capable of changing a light bulb."

"_Obviously not_, seeing as you're in a cast."

"Not the point.

"It's entirely the point."

Josh grinned and lightly rapped on the door, sliding into the room with flourish and jello-cup filled jazz hands. The girl standing at the bedside, presumably Sammi, rolled her eyes and just looked at him with one eyebrow raised. Carson on the other hand, smiled openly and called out with childish glee.

"JELLO!"

Sammi turned to look at her with incredulity, giving her a look as if to ask 'Are you _seriously_ encouraging him?'. Carson disregarded the blonde completely, sitting up a little straighter in the hospital bed.

"Don't be dissing my strawberry flavored Jello, Sammi."

"I'm not!"

Aidan stepped into the room awkwardly, feeling the part of an outsider. Josh, as observed, was actually...fitting in rather well. These girls, obnoxious and problematic though they may be, seemed to accept Josh in all of his awkward geekyness, with no prejudice or backhanded comments. Though the tall, leggy, blonde was shooting irritated looks at Josh, who was now doing his best Wookie impression, but they were no different than an older sister might give her brother.

"Oh, Sammi, speaking of which," Sammi turned her head back to look at Carson, realizing that she hadn't been paying a bit of attention. "Did you bring me some books?"

"Um yeah...yeah. They're in the car." Sammi was presently distracted, seeing Aidan for the first time out of the corner of her eye.

Carson followed her gaze and smirked, only a little, before calling Sammi's attention back into focus. "So, which ones did you grab?"

"Huh?"

Carson choked back a laugh. "Which books did you bring me?"

"I...don't know. I just grabbed the stack that was on your desk. I _tried_ to wade my way in your room to get to your shelves, but your room was such a mess I couldn't get to the shelves."

"Sammi, keep your neurosis to yourself. The books from my desk are fine. Did you say you grabbed the _stack_ from my desk? How'd you manage that?"

"Two trips. It's fine. I'll run and get them, then bring the second half up."

Carson gave a thoughtful 'hm', before turning her attention to Aidan. "So, who are you?"

"I'm Aidan, a nurse in the ER ward and Josh's roommate."

"Ah...I think I'll call you Edward." Carson snickered wickedly, sharing an amused glance with Josh.

"Edward?"

"You know, Twilight? You look like him. Well, how I imagined him. Not like Robert Pattinson. You're hotter."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't."

"Fine. But, as soon as I'm back on my feet, I'm doing two things: one, coming up with a cutesy nickname for you, and two, writing a romance novel about you."

Aidan cringed, having no idea what to do or say. Sammi, seeing his discomfort, sighed.

"Enough, Carson. Leave the poor guy alone and enjoy your painkillers while they last. It's not his fault he's hot. You," Sammi left the bedside and linked arms with Aidan "Come help me carry some books up?"

"Sure." Aidan smiled, suddenly very glad to be away from the crazy girl studying his face.

As they left, Aidan could've sworn he saw Carson wink.


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hi this is Amylase, like Preston said before I am writing the POV of Sammi. I just want to mention we apologize for not getting this up sooner, hope you all enjoy!_  
_**Preston here! I wrote the Aidan/Josh POV, and Carson's POV. Give us some feedback on the structure of the chapter please, as we're still working out how it's going to, well, work out. **_

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**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. **

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*****Sammi's POV ***

As soon as we were out the door, I released Aidan from my death grip. But I still can't believe I let Carson compel me to do this. I am now dragging this hot guy down to my car… which just so happens to be a mess.

Disregarding every bone in my body I begin a conversation, "So Aidan, right?"

"Yeah," He paused as we continued to walk down the almost empty hallway together. "And it's Sammi, right?" He added as his dark brown eyes stared into mine.

"Yep." I said very exasperatedly. I quickly averted my gaze, and looked down at the floor as we walked down the hallway.

By the time we finally reached the front doors of the hospital I have worked up enough courage to apologize. "Aidan, sorry about back there…" But as I trail off, I notice that Aidan isn't getting what I am trying to say. "Sorry about Carson… she doesn't normally act that way," though knowing full well that she pretty much does.

"It was probably just the pain killers," Aidan told me as he held the door for me like a gentleman.

"Thanks," I said giving him a little smile, which he returned kindly.

"So where's your car?" Aidan asked as I just headed straight for the second row to the right.

"It's that blue 2010 Ford Focus over there," I said as I pointed to my car with my keys, which I had just pulled out of my jeans pocket, but kept walking hoping that Aidan was still behind me.

"Oh, nice car," Aidan said as he trotted up beside me.

I hated the awkward silence that followed. We didn't say anything to each other the entire walk to the car. I mean the only noise made was me unlocking the car as we got closer.

"So, I hope you can carry a ton of books Aidan," I told him as I opened the back door.

"Why?"

"Because this isn't even half of it," I said as I pulled out a huge stack of books and handed it to Aidan.

When I grabbed the next stack of books from the car and was about to hand them to Aidan, I noticed he was having trouble with the first stack I had given him.

"Having some trouble over there?"

"No," Aidan said, as I noticed the books were teetering from side to side. I gave him my usual 'sure you aren't' look. I guess Aidan noticed it because he added, "Okay maybe a little… but only because they're not stacked properly."

I sighed as I set the second stack on top of my car. "Here," I said as I took about half the stack from him. "Why don't we just place them all on top of my car for now, and then we can work out the travel arrangements."

"Um, yeah sure," Aidan said as he placed the book stack next to the other ones I had created.

As I pulled out Carson's books from my car, my neuroscience book fell out of the car and between my legs. I couldn't exactly pick it up, seeing as my hands were full with all of Carson's books. But as I was placing the last stack of books on top of my car, who decides to bend over and pick up my huge text book, but Aidan.

"So who is into neuroscience?"

"Me," I said quickly taking the large text book from his hands and lightly tossing it back into my car.

"Oh, is this just a hobby…"

"No," I interrupted him a little annoyed that he was poking his nose into my stuff. "I didn't spend four years in medical school just so I could read neuroscience textbooks as a hobby," I continued still a little annoyed.

"Oh…. cool." Aidan told me like we were five again. There was a long awkward pause as we just stood there not making eye contact but facing each other. "So do you know where you're doing your residency?"

"Yeah, why do you think Carson and I moved out to the suburbs of Boston?" I asked, as I looked up to see if Aidan understood.

"You mean you're doing your residency here?" Aidan said as he stood with his shoulders backward, and his arms crossed, a stern look on his face.

"Yep… when you graduate from Harvard Medical you can pretty much go wherever you want…" I let slip from my mouth before I could catch myself.

"Why would you come here?" Aidan asked me honestly.

"Long story," I said not looking at Aidan, and not wanting to reveal the entire back story of the past few months.

"Oh," Aidan said, like he knew he had brought up something personal that would definatly not be divulged after knowing him for all of ten minutes.

"So how are we gonna do this?" I asked him, trying to change the subject, but also asking a really good question since the stacks of books were rather large.

"Why don't you take the stacks on the left," which were the smaller ones, of course. "And I'll take the stacks on the right." Aidan said, already reaching for them.

"Okay, but you sure you don't want me to carry some more books?" I said looking at Aidan carrying twice as many books as me and making me look like a weakling, which I hate. "I was a Division I NCAA swimmer you know."

"You were, huh?"

"Yep, breaststroke and IM, made it to the NCAAs sophomore through senior year."

"Well congrats!"

I chuckled a little. "Thanks, but now I just swim in the morning at the local Y."

"Well at least you still workout…"

"Wait, you don't work out?" I asked, astonished that this man standing before me, with what appeared to be a pretty buff body, didn't workout.

Aidan appeared to be contemplating what I had just said, which seemed odd to me. But I must have been making faces because he quickly responded, "Why do you ask? Does it look like I do?"

I was definitely not prepared for that, and I could feel my face getting red. I quickly shut the car door, locked it, and grabbed the books from on top of the car. Then added, "Carson is probably wondering where we are… we should get back there before she starts speculating on what we've been doing for the last fifteen minutes, cause she certainly will."

I quickly walked away from Aidan before he noticed my tomato-red face. I smirked and laughed to myself at how stupid I must have looked just a few minutes before, and how ridiculous my answer must have been. Aidan must think Carson and I are complete freaks now, and he probably won't ever want to talk with me again.

But just as that thought crossed my mind I got to the front doors of the ER, so I turned around to make sure Aidan was doing okay with his ginormous stake of books. I laughed a little at the sight of him walking carefully with the books so as not to drop any of them.

When he walked by me, I saw a smile come across his face in what I thought was accomplishment, which made me give him a smile back. I mean come on, I would be lying if I said he isn't charming, and god I absolutely love his smile, it makes me melt like the wicked witch of the west, and become dumbfounded and red in the face.

He entered the ER before me so I followed behind to make sure he didn't drop any books on the way to Carson's room, because she would be furious if any of them were missing.

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**-Carson's POV-**

I probably sounded like I was crazy, looked like I was crazy. Oh well. That's one of the benefits of being in the hospital: you could get away with saying anything and blame it on the painkillers. Josh was a dork. A nerdy, nervous, cute, twittering, funny, lovable dork. Finally! Someone with whom I could share my passion in the realm of B-movies and anime! Don't get me wrong, Sammi's awesome! But, that being said, she's slightly...robotic. She's brilliant, driven, and completely lacking in social graces. Ok, not all of them; she can laugh and smile, even if she has a few boundary issues.

Josh is still standing in the same place, awkwardly so, and I'm tempted to say nothing because his discomfort amuses me, but I'll take pity on him. I'm still flying high over freaking Edward out.

"So Josh, how long have you lived around here?"

"Not too long, maybe a little over a year."

"Oh? Why'd you move?"

Josh visibly flinched, causing my curiosity to be piqued. "Just needed a change of scenery."

"It sounds like there's a story there."

"What?" He laughed nervously "No! No story!"

He must have seen the unrelenting curiosity in my eyes, because he quickly changed the subject.  
"We're having a party two weeks from Saturday. You want to come?"

Huh? Party? I felt my brain slow, my heartbeat diminish in speed, a wave of nausea overcome me - the dizzy kind that makes your head spin, makes you feel like you're a puppet on a string with no control over your body. My heart plunged to the bottom of my stomach, my heartbeat was pounding in my ears. There was screaming, new decibels of pitches reached in pure agony. And blood. So much blood. I could see the multicolor strobe lights, flashing...flashing...They were in my eyes, behind them, through them.

My consciousness flashed with the lights and I could catch glimpses of things - gleaming steel, people with inhuman grace and faces of fallen angels, mass chaos. People being trampled, the wailing of men and women as they lost their hope and fell to the ground. A flash of bright blonde hair, Sammi and I have found each other. We cling to each other, panicked but not screaming. Where is she? Where is she? Where is she? Nothing.

"Carson?"

I snapped back to the present, swallowing, my breathing somewhat labored.

"Hey...are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Josh!" I bring a bright smile back to my face, willing the images to disappear. "I've just got a headache. Too much plotting will do that to a girls head, you know?"

"Uh huh," He's looking at me like I'm a freak. Good. "Are you sure that's all?"

"Of course!" I lie. "I would love to come to your party!" I lie again.

"Awesome!" He's bought it, hook, line, and sinker. His ears perk up, and his big brown doe-eyes regain their twinkle. "Well, um, it starts at 7:30 or 8:00, no gifts are required though edible food is always appreciated - I'm a lousy cook, and Aidan...Well, let's just say he's not useful in any acts of domesticity whatsoever."

"Oh. So you _are_ the girl!"

"...What?"

"The girl. You now, the catcher. I kind of had Aidan pegged as the dominant masculine in the relationship."

"But...But, we're not a couple! We're not even gay!"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" His voice hit a new octave, and I couldn't help but laugh, try as I might to keep the ruse going.

"Sure thing, Josh. _What-ever-you-say._"

"I do say!"

"Anyway, speaking of parties, we're having one a week from today. It's not really a party, more just a social gathering in which people bring us things for our poor, beat-up, house.

"So it's a housewarming party."

"Yeah. We're moving into the Victorian manor on the edge of the south side, by the river."

"The one with the battered picket fence, and broken windows? The one everyone says is haunted?"

"Yes," Odd. "How'd you know?"

"Aidan and I live a few blocks away. You're house is on our neighborhood watch route."

"That's really..."

"Weird?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's one word for it."

"Creepy being another, right? But, I mean, it's not like you're stalking us."

I grinned, saying nothing, watching his reaction. When his eyebrow started to twitch, and I couldn't hold back my laughter. "No, no stalking. Just a...lucky, happy coincidence. Are you going to come?"

"Wouldn't miss it. I'll drag Aidan there too."

"That's probably a good idea. Better you bring him than have him not show up. Sammi would get upset...and promptly drag him here forcefully."

"She couldn't even if she tried."

I smiled. "You don't know Sammi."

Aidan and Sammi chose this moment to enter the room, stacks of books in their arms.

"Are you happy now, Carson? You killed our backs for your boredom."

"Thank you! And yes, it was worth it. If my boredom is reigned in, I'm not plotting to take over the world."

Aidan's looking at me like I'm one cocoa puff short of a box of cheerios. Josh is looking at me like I'm Princess Leia.

"Well," Aidan began, drawing our attention to him. "As fun as this has been, Josh and I need to get back to work."

"Don't forget Josh!" I reminded him gently, still smiling despite the fact that the ring on my middle finger seemed heavier, held more presence, than before.

"Yeah. I have to get back to the house and finish painting."

The guys waved, rushing out of the room. There was a moment of silence between Sammi and I before I spoke up.

"They're back, Sammi. The memories. I had a flashback. Snapshots."

"Yeah...me too. Not just now, but in my dreams...The screams, the smell of sweat and blood co-mingled. I don't think we'll ever get over it, not really, but...I do think it's time to move on, to make peace with what happened and get on with our lives."

I said nothing, twisting the ring. She makes it sound so easy, so simple. But then, she wasn't the one covered in blood. She wasn't the one who lost it and killed someone. she wasn't the one who picked up a sword and ran him through without a second though. No, that was me.

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Aidan was tired. Exhausted. Worn out. The shift had been long, the emotional drama over Ray and Danny mentally crippling. The crick in his neck hadn't dissipated yet, but Aidan was sure that given a few hours with his neck bent at a one-hundred and thirty-five degree angle on the couch he would survive. Not that he really had much of a choice; Josh had confined him to the couch the moment he got home.

The only time Aidan had even been let up was to lift the fridge so Josh could obsessive compulsively clean underneath it.

"Hey, uh, Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you acting like a real housewife of Boston?"

"What are you talking about?"

Aidan craned his neck to watch Josh dust the top of the fan. "Right. In plain English, what the hell is wrong with you and why are you cleaning _everything_?"

"Well, it's a funny story actually..." Josh kept his eyes on the ground as he ran around the house, adjusting pillows and the like.

"Go on."

"Well, you know I thought Carson and her friend were kind of cool and they're kind of our new neighbors, so I invited them to the party we're throwing in two weeks."

"What party?"

"You know, the one we're throwing!"

"...So, let me get this straight, you invited the girls over to a party which you hadn't actually planned on throwing until you invited them."

"Yeah, that about sums it up."

"Uh huh. And, uh, when were you going to talk to me about it?"

"...Before they got here?"

"Right." Aidan sighed, exasperatedly.

"And you're cleaning compulsively because you want the house to be clean for them in two weeks?"

"Well," Josh paused, suddenly realizing the flaw in his plan. "There will be less to do then!"

"We're having a party?" Sally materialized, seemingly out of thin air, behind a rather startled Josh.

"Yeah. A pretty girl talked to Josh and he went and invited her, and her friend, to a party he didn't plan on throwing until the words had already left his mouth."

"Oh."

"Hey! You didn't seem to be complaining when her friend was making googly eyes at _you_!" Josh retorted, only temporarily distracted from his dusting.

"Josh, most women make googly eyes at Aidan," Sally calmly intervened "The question is, how did you feel about her making eyes at you Aidan?"

Josh and Sally looked at him expectantly, waiting for a response. Aidan looked between the both of them, pausing before he spoke "Well...I'm...not...completely...upset about it, by any means. But that doesn't mean anything," he added quickly, recognizing the meaningful glance Sally and Josh shared. "I like her. She's a nice girl with a good head on her shoulders. Her friend..."

"Hey! Don't pick on Carson. She's less crazy than she seems, really!"

"She called you _gay_, why are you still defending her?"

"Well, she's a woman who saw and appreciated, though misread, my softer side."

Sally giggled. "Well, I for one can't wait for this party. I want to meet these girls."

"Josh, I'm really not sure this is such a great idea. I mean, how much do we even know about them, really?"

"Well, not a whole lot, but trust is a two-way street! Besides, you're always talking about fitting in and being human, right? This is part of being human! We have friends, and acquaintances, and have parties and go to parties."

"Now we're _going_ to parties?"

"Well, they're having a housewarming party in a week and Carson invited us. It wouldn't be polite to not go!"

"Do you even know where they live?"

"Yeah. They just moved down the block from us, into the old manor."

"The old, _haunted_ manor?" Sally questioned, a skeptical look on her face. "Who would willingly move into an old manor with broken windows...and ghosts...and all that creepiness?"

Josh looked at Aidan before turning back to Sally. "Well, uh, _we_ would, and we can even see and hear you!"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not creepy."

"No, but you _are_ a ghost."

"Look," Aidan spoke up, interjecting before WWIII began in their household. "I think what Josh is trying to say is that they obviously don't care about the 'creepiness', and are most likely looking for an affordable place to live."

"It's a little more detailed than where my thought process was, but sure, let's go with that."

"Still...there's still something fishy about all of this."

"Sally, there's _nothing_ fishy about _any_ of this. They're a couple of nice girls, fresh from college, looking for some place they can afford that's close to where they work."

"Do you even _know_ where they work?"

Aidan raised a hand to get their attention. "I'm not sure about Carson, but Sammi is actually starting her residency at Suffolk County General."

"What, really?" Josh's curiosity piqued, easily distracted from his argument with Sally.

"Yeah. They both graduated from Harvard, Sammi from Harvard Medical. I have no clue what Carson does though. Maybe something...writing related?"

"Why do you think it would be writing related?" Sally asked, frowning.

"Because Carson told him she was going to write a romance novel about him. And call him Edward, at least until she can come up with something cutesy for him."

"Edward, as in the vampire Edward from Twilight? Am I the _only_ one here with alarm bells going off in their heads? They move down the street, one of them gets a job at the hospital you two work at, and now you have the other comparing you to a vampire!"

"Sally, you're reading _way_ too much into this."

"Even still, "Aidan, ever the mediator, stepped in "It can't hurt to be cautious. We'll be careful and do a little digging to see what we can find out."

"Better yet," Josh turned to look at Sally "If you're so concerned, why don't you go check out their place. See if you can't find anything incriminating, or at least moderately suspicious!"

Sally huffed and disappeared with a snap. Elsewhere in the house, a running toilet could be heard.

"Do you _always_ have to act like that?"

"What?"

"Come on, Josh! The girl just found out that her fiancé murdered her!"

"I know, I know. She just...drives me a little crazy sometimes. I mean, what's so wrong with wanting to connect with another person?"

"I don't think it's that. Josh, the love of her life murdered her, she's _dead_, and her family and friends are moving on. _We are all she has left!_"

"I'll apologize when she gets back. I just...I really don't want anything to go wrong, you know? I don't want another Ray fiasco! I want to have a normal relationship with a normal human, and I don't want it to go to hell because of something supernaturally related. And it bugs me that she automatically thinks that somethings got to be wrong with them for talking to us and liking us and wanting to hang out with us!"

"I don't think that's why she's so worried. A big part of it is probably the fact that if we do have normal relationships with normal humans, it's less time we spend with her. I'm not suggesting that she's that needy or petty, necessarily, just that, given everything that's happened, she might be a little insecure. Ease up, okay?"

"Yeah...You're probably right. I just want this to work, with no complications this time. I think if we don't look for trouble, trouble won't find us. Right?"

"Right." Aidan smiled, seeing his friend finally calmed down.

Wrong.

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**A/n2- So, we would like to take a moment to thank everyone who reviewed and/or favorited/alerted this story. A big hand for: WaffleNinja, Aurora528, TarotChild Conan, Coffeegirl182, XxXCarnageXxX, and kutoki.**

**Without y'all's encouragement and support, this chapter wouldn't have made it out.**


	3. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Hey everyone this is Amylase again. I wrote this chapter, sorry it took longer than expected but the last episode sort of screwed up everything that we had planned, we actually guessed about a lot of the stuff that happened in it. So Enjoy!

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**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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Josh and Aidan had been closely watching Emily since they had admitted her almost two hours ago. The doctors had stopped the bleeding, and gotten her stitched up, all ten of them to be exact.

After seeing Emily's blood Aidan needed a drink so he wouldn't go crazy from blood lust. "Josh?"

"Yeah?" Josh said looking up from the side of Emily's bed.

"I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee, you want one?"

"Um… no thanks, I'm good."

"Okay," Aidan said with a smile as he left the room.

Aidan wondered who could do this, beat up a defenseless, depressed, drunk girl. What monster would do such a thing? What human with any kind of moral character could ever even think about doing this to another human being without feeling guilty?

"Hey Aidan," a cheery voice said, which snapped Aidan out of his daze. It was Sammi, and Carson, who appeared to be having difficulties with her crutches.

Aidan looked at Carson a little bewildered at how awkward she walked with the crutches.

"Yeah she's having some difficulties with the crutches," Sammi whispered into Aidan's ear as Carson hobbled towards them.

"Hey I heard that!"

"Yeah but what are you gonna do about it gimp?" Sammi said jokingly, but Carson just glared at her like she was trying to kill Sammi with her eyes.

"So they let her out huh?"

"Yeah, I think she was bugging the hell out of the nursing staff, so they let her go a little early," Sammi said with a little smile.

"So Josh told me about the house warming party you guys are having next week."

"Yeah and now that Carson is going home, I'm probably gonna have to do all the cleaning with her foot and all." Sammi paused as Carson passed them and rolled her eyes at the last comment. Then added, "Oh, and I start at the hospital next week too."

"Right... and you are coming to our party the week after aren't you?"

"Yeah, Carson told me, though its not like I had a choice..." Sammi said, but then realized how rude that sounded. "I mean..." She started again, stammering for words, "I wanted to come anyway, but if I didn't, which I do, Carson would have dragged me there." She finished with an awkward silence.

Aidan noticed that her eyes kept darting around, from his eyes to the ground, to Carson, then back to him.

"Sammi!" Carson yelled from down the hall.

"I should probably go help her." Sammi said still hanging around as if waiting for something.

"Sammi!" Carson said even more urgent.

"You really should probably go help her," Aidan said with a smile.

Sammi rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you're probably right... So I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah."

"Sammi!"

"Alright, alright I'm coming!" She yelled as she jogged down the hall.

Aidan smiled as he watched her jog down the hall and catch up with Carson, who needed Sammi to sign her out of the hospital. He laughed to himself as he turned to go to the cafeteria. He decided to buy some coffee he could find in hopes that it might help to cap his cravings, even though he knew it was highly unlikely. He got an extra strong coffee, and he asked for it really, really hot in hopes it might at least fake his brain into thinking it was blood. When he got the cup of coffee he took a large sip, and felt it help a little, and payed the woman at the coffee stand and headed back to Emily's room.

As Aidan walked back to the room he saw a cop standing inside of Emily's room. Odd. Josh must have called them to file a report. Aidan didn't think anything more about it until he turned to enter the room and saw who the cop was.

Bishop.

He was intently taking notes on a little notepad, so he didn't even turn when Aidan stopped in the doorway and stared at him. Then everything made sense to Aidan. It was Bishop, though not directly as it was probably Marcus who actually attacked Emily, that had given the order. Aidan could feel his blood beginning to boil, if that was even possible. He wanted to rip out Bishop's heart, but he knew that it couldn't happen here.

Josh snapped Aidan out of his daze, "And Aidan was at the bar too..."

"Oh, you were?" Bishop asked, even though Aidan was sure that Bishop already knew the answer.

"Yes I was officer. But I didn't see anything, I didn't even see Emily go outside."

"And why is that Aidan?"

"I... was in the bathroom."

"Okay, duly noted," Bishop said jotting it down. He turned back to Emily and gave her a smile, "Thank you Ms. Emily for your cooperation, I promise to hunt this man down... personally."

Now Aidan definitely knew it was Marcus who had attacked Emily after that comment by Bishop.

"Thank you officer Bishop," Josh said shaking getting up and shaking Bishop's hand, looking concerned as ever.

Bishop smiled, then turned and walked by Aidan, the sly smile still on his face as he went by. It took every last ounce of control Aidan had to not attack Bishop right there. Aidan took another sip of his coffee only to find it was cold now, and disgusting. Aidan looked at the coffee with despair and tossed it in the garbage.

"Not hitting the spot Aidan?" Josh asked.

"No, no it didn't."

There was a long pause before Aidan checked his phone for the time. "Hey Josh, we have to get home."

"Why?"

"Because you aren't gonna get any sleep if you stay here, and you should change out of those clothes..."

"Why do we need to go home? We could just change here."

"Josh, your clothes are covered in your sister's blood. And, I'm _hungry_. We need to go home."

It took a while for Josh to understand what Aidan was talking about. "Oh! Oh yeah. Hey Em you wouldn't mind if Aidan and I left for a little while, would you? I promise we'll be back in the morning, we have to come back for work so I will check up on you later okay?"

"Yeah that's fine Josh, I think I can last the night without you." She said with a smile.

Josh leaned over and kissed his little sister on the forehead, "See you soon."

Then Josh and Aidan left, but Aidan wondered if he should tell Josh about who hurt his little sister. Maybe once they get back to the house, if Josh wasn't too emotional by then.

* * *

Aidan was always the first to shower, he was a morning person, while Josh was not. It usually took Josh a while to get in the shower. Josh and Aidan usually didn't see each other until they were downstairs getting ready to leave for work. But after the amazing home cooked meal last night Josh was in a good mood the next morning at 5:30 when they had to wake up and get ready for work.

Aidan was surprised to see Josh standing at the door to their bathroom, "You're up early," he said quickly as he moved along the wall.

"What are you doing Aidan?" Josh asked, a bewildered look on his face.

"Nothing," Aidan muttered. "I'm just walking to my room."

"Aidan, is something wrong?" Josh asked concerned.

"No, what would make you think that?" Aidan said as he backed into his door and cringed in pain.

"Aidan," Josh said annoyed, "let me take a look." Josh was used to Aidan coming home with injuries, though he never knew where they came from.

Aidan turned around and Josh saw the horrific black and blue bruises across the top of Aidan's back. When Aidan turned around, he noticed how shocked Josh was.

"Do they hurt?" Josh asked, still a little shocked by how bad the bruises looked.

"Only when bumped."

Josh wanting to know why his best friend had bruises on his back decided to finally get to the bottom of this mystery. "So what happened?"

Aidan sighed, "You really want to know?"

"Well you've come home enough times with bruises I think I deserve an explanation."

"Well let me get dressed first, and I'll tell you before we leave for the hospital."

Josh took the fastest shower of his life, and came bolting down the stairs, almost tripping and tumbling down them. He rushed into the kitchen to start making his coffee only to find that Aidan had already done it for him. He poured the fresh coffee into his mug, and made a lunch, while Aidan simply had his feet up on their table, the paper and cup of blood in his hands.

"Alright!" Josh said ready to go.

Josh started to grow impatient as Aidan took his time to get up, wash out his mug and fill it with some more blood. Aidan placed the mug in the microwave, and slowly shut the door. Aidan just pushed the start button on the microwave and watched the timer count down.

"Come on! When are you gonna tell me? You promised…" Josh said like a whiny two year old.

Aidan decided it was time to tell Josh about Bishop, not tell him everything, but at least enough so if Bishop ever came around Josh would be prepared.

Aidan took a deep breath in, "Josh… there is something I haven't told you…" Aidan paused still debating on whether or not to tell Josh. "My sire, is here, in Boston."

"What?" Josh said in a stupor.

"Not only is he here in Boston… but he's on the police force too… a Lieutenant actually."

"What?" Josh said freaking out, like Aidan hoped he wouldn't.

"Shh," Aidan shushed Josh angrily. It was 6 in the morning and most people were still asleep or just waking up.

"You mean to tell me that there are vampires on the police force?" Josh said whispering, very loudly.

Aidan rolled his eyes, "Yes Josh, vampires are on the police force. Now back on topic. My sire isn't too happy that I'm not drinking live, and that I'm shacking up with a werewolf. Not to mention I told him that the hospital is off limits to recruiting. Let's just say he wasn't too happy about it…"

"So he beat the crap out of you?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Wow. And I thought Ray was bad. But this dude sounds like he's trying to give you hell."

"Yeah pretty much... but he really dislikes you."

"Me?"

"Well actually he doesn't dislike you... he hates you."

"Oh?" Josh asked confused and taken aback.

"Which is why he... sort of... indirectly... had something to do with... your sister's attack." Aidan said hoping that Josh wouldn't go ballistic at this, since he hadn't even told Josh his name yet.

"What?" Josh said getting a little furious.

"And it gets worse..."

"How could it get any worse?" Josh said.

"His name is..." Aidan paused and closed his eyes. "Bishop."

"You mean the cop... that was in there talking with my sister?" Josh pulled out a chair and sat down hard on it.

"Josh?" Aidan said checking to see if Josh was alright.

Josh sort of snapped out whatever he was thinking to respond, "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"So you're not gonna go looking for Bishop or Marcus… right?"

"I don't even know where to look Aidan, so how can I go looking for them if I don't even know where to start?"

"Good, keep it that way. Bishop and Marcus are not to be dealt with. They will kill you the first chance they get."

The microwave beeped but Aidan didn't reach to get his mug. He was trying to decipher whether he could trust Josh's word about not doing anything stupid, but it was hard to tell.

"Aren't you gonna grab that while its still warm?" Josh asked Aidan.

"Yeah," Aidan said as he turned and opened the microwave. He lifted the mug to smell it and turned away in disgust, warmed up blood is never as good as the real thing, but at least he wasn't killing anyone.

"Aidan?"

"Yeah?" Aidan said taking the mug from his lips after taking a sip.

"I'm gonna leave now… I want get to the hospital early to check up on Emily. The doctor said she could go home today and I want to be there to bring her back here."

"Alright, I'll meet you there." Aidan said sitting down again and picking up the paper to continue reading it.

As soon as Josh had left though, Aidan set the paper down. Aidan was wondering how he was going to talk with Marcus next, and how he was going to keep his composure, knowing full well that Marcus had attacked Emily because of him. Marcus had always hated him, ever since Bishop showed a special interest in him a few centuries ago. But Aidan had kept poking at the sleeping lion, he kept showing up to talk with Bishop, and ask for a clean up every once and a while. If Marcus had gone off the deep end like Aidan had, Bishop wouldn't have been so lenient.

Aidan decided that it was in their, Josh and Emily's, best interest to leave Boston for a while, so somewhere safe, and away from Bishops keen eye. And they would have to leave… today.

* * *

Aidan left the house once he was done with his cup of blood. He walked slower than usual, but made sure that he made it to the hospital on time. Aidan felt like it was necessary to give Josh and Emily some time alone before he showed up to tell Josh they had to get to work.

Aidan decided to check up on Emily and Josh before he went to change into his scrubs. When he entered Emily's room she was alone, sitting in her hospital bed watching TV. When she noticed someone was standing at her door she turned to look. Aidan was surprised to see a look of confusion on her face.

"Aidan, what are you doing here?" Emily asked.

"Did your brother stop in to say hi?" Aidan asked like nothing was wrong.

"No…" Emily said even more confused.

"So you haven't seen your brother recently?"

"Not since he left with you last night… Why?" Emily now asked with concern.

"Emily get your clothes on… fast!"

"Why?"

"Just do it, I'll be back in a little bit."

"Okay."

Aidan wanted to check and make sure Josh was not in the hospital at all. That he hadn't gone and changed first, or gotten caught up in something with a patient. Aidan checked the staff board, Josh hadn't signed it. It confirmed Aidan's worst fears… Josh had gone out to find Marcus.

Aidan hurried back to Emily's room. "You ready?" He asked impatiently.

"Almost… Aidan what the hell is going on?"

"I think your brother might do something really, really stupid that will be putting his life in danger."

"Like what?" Emily asked walking up to Aidan standing in the doorway.

Aidan had to think about the words to say at this crucial moment in time. "Um…" Aidan paused still thinking about a way to break it too Emily without telling her the whole truth. "He's going to find your assaulter."

* * *

Josh had shut the door to the house behind him, hoping that Aidan hadn't gotten a sense to what he was really going to do. He hadn't planned on going to pick up Emily, at least not until he knew the thing that beat her up was dead. He needed to find Marcus, but how?

Josh had walked along the sidewalk trying to think, until something Ray had told him a few weeks ago had popped into his head. "The wolf gives us special abilities Josh, it… enhances our own senses…"

He had decided to go back to the alley where Emily said she was attacked, maybe there he could get a good whiff of Marcus.

He was now standing, staring, at the front of the bar. He was having a hard time at first pinpointing scents in general. The smell of alcohol was clogging his senses, but he soon found Emily's smell really strong in a certain place. When he looked closer he could see dried blood, probably from the gash on her forehead, which infuriated Josh even more. He smelled around a little more to try and get a good read on Marcus' smell.

Josh could smell a bad choice in cologne near Emily's blood, and he was sure that was a vampire would ever wear that horrible cologne.

Once Josh had locked onto the scent it was stuck in his nostrils until he found Marcus. Josh continued to follow Marcus' scent a few blocks in one direction and then a few in another, until he came upon a place where the scent was quite strong. When Josh looked up, just a few hundred feet from him, stood the man he had beaten up just a few nights ago. Josh couldn't control himself, and he lunged at the man and knocked him to the ground.

"What the...?" Marcus began to say. "Oh it's you?" He said with a smirk.

"Yeah it's me. And now you are gonna get whats comin to ya." Josh said as he clenched his fist ready to punch Marcus.

But Marcus beat Josh to it. Marcus backhanded him across the face and sent him flying backwards. Josh quickly rose to his feet, wiping the blood that was dripping from his lip. Josh lunged, shoving Marcus into the brick wall, causing ripple cracks to form and the building to shudder as he repeatedly punched his stomach. But Josh was shocked when in the next moment a pair of muscular arms were wrapped around his waist and pulling him off of Marcus. At first, Josh thought it might have been Aidan, but when another fist hit his face he knew it wasn't.

Another vampire had shown up to help Marcus, and now the fight was unfair. A werewolf against a vampire was almost a fair fight, but a werewolf against two vampires were not good odds.

No sooner had the two of them started to really wail on Josh, a third person appeared.

Josh knew he was going to die now, there was no chance he had any way of making it out alive. But one assailant went flying, and Marcus disappeared then too.

"Come on Josh! You have to get up!"

"Aidan?" Josh asked surprised.

"Josh I told you not to do this!"

"Aidan how did you know where to find me?"

"Not now… go protect your sister."

Josh looked behind Aidan and saw that Emily was standing there petrified of the scene before her. "You brought her here?"

"You left me no choice. Just get over there and help Emily!"

Josh quickly moved to Emily's side. He cared more about her well being than getting revenge.

"Marcus!" Aidan shouted.

"What Aidan? I can't help it if your little pet can't control itself." Marcus said while picking himself up from the ground where Aidan had thrown him.

"You know you started this Marcus. You attacked his sister! What the hell do you expect!"

"Well I didn't know it was his sister…" Marcus said in a tone that it was an obvious lie.

"Aidan!" Josh said.

"Not now Josh!" Aidan said backing up to join Emily and Josh. "Leave it… you've already made this so much worse."

"But…"

"No Josh," Aidan said hinting to look at Emily.

When Josh actually looked at his sister's face she was in shock.

"Josh we need to get her away from here, and you cleaned up."

"Don't run away, we aren't done here!" Marcus shouted after them.

But Aidan knew he wouldn't follow, no matter how much Marcus hated him, he wanted to please Bishop even more. Not to mention it was close to an even fight, and Marcus only liked fights that were easily won.

As they quickly walked away Josh realized the severity of his actions to his sister's eyes. He, who had never attacked anyone in his life nor been beaten up, had just tried to beat the living shit out of a guy. He was most likely covered in blood, mostly his, from being beaten on the ground. Emily wasn't used to the 'new' Josh, and he wondered if she ever could be.

"You two need to get out of here… today," Aidan said when they were far enough away that Marcus couldn't hear them.

"But were will we go?"

"I don't know… anywhere," Aidan said realizing that wasn't very helpful. "Someplace you both will feel safe, and Marcus can't find you."

"Home…" Emily said finally coming back to the present.

"Are you okay with that Josh?"

"I guess…" But Josh really didn't want to. His family was, perhaps, even more scary than any number of vampires.

"Good, that's settled then…"

* * *

Aidan drove Josh and Emily to their house. It was a good sized home in the middle of the woods, with a lake across the street. Aidan shut the engine off, so Josh and Emily got out of the car and waited for Aidan to get out too.

But when he didn't, Emily asked sweetly, "You aren't coming with us?"

"No I have some business to take care of, and to try and clean up this mess your brother has now made worse. Just promise me you two will stay here and not do anything rash…" Aidan said as he started the car up again.

Josh turned around to see if Aidan was still there, but Aidan was already speeding away down the street. Thanks a lot Aidan, Josh thought. Josh was fidgety as Emily pushed the doorbell. What would he say? How would his mom and dad react? What would they say?

The door opened. "Emily," Josh's mom said as she stepped out onto the porch to give Emily a big hug. "You okay?"

"Yeah mom I'm fine," Emily said releasing herself from her mothers grip.

Josh gave a half smile to his mother, like an 'I'm sorry?' look.

"Why don't you come inside?" Josh's mom said to his sister. They went inside and Josh was left standing there awkwardly on the porch with all the bags. He took a deep breath in and charged into the house.

* * *

His family was surprisingly not shocked by his sudden drop in after two years of being missing. They acted like he was just visiting from college or something, it was sort of creeping Josh out. It was like nothing had changed, it was like nothing had happened, only now his mom and dad were separated, but it didn't feel that way. Even the one thing Josh hoped would changed hadn't, his father was still trying to go all psychiatrist on him. That was one thing he never did enjoy about his father, it always felt like his dad was treating him like another patient.

The family was about to sit down at their dinner table to have a nice, warm, home-cooked meal, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Josh's dad said.

Josh had just sat down when all of a sudden he smelled it, the same old cologne from before. He pushed out his chair, knocking it over, and rushed around the corner to see his father standing face to face with Marcus.

"Don't let him in!" Josh yelled to his father as he rushed to shut the door.

Once Josh had slammed it shut he turned to his father who yelled, "What'd ya do that for Josh!"

"Just don't let that man in this house dad!" Josh said as he frantically ran around looking for something to kill Marcus with.

"Ah ha!" Josh exclaimed when he saw his family's entry way table. Josh picked it up, dropping the fake plant on the floor, and holding by its feet he slammed the top against the floor. The table's top broke off leaving quite a nice point on the other end.

"Josh what did you do that for?" Emily asked.

"Protection…" Josh said as he ran for the back door. He quickly turned around to add, "Stay in the house, don't invite anyone it, and _do not_ look outside."

Josh left his family in awe as he shut the door with a _slam_ behind him. He clutched the enormous stake in his hands, and took a deep breath. He took three steps, glancing around, when he heard something behind him. He turned around and the last thing he remembered was seeing Marcus swinging something at him, and he blacked out.

* * *

The first thing Josh felt after he awoke was a horrible pain on the side of his head. He felt like he had been run over with a Semi or something. As he opened his eyes, his vision was hazy, and his head was pounding. He tried to rub his head, but he found that both his hands were tied. At least they were tied in front of his body so he could still rub his head, however awkwardly. He sat up from the floor with a groan.

"Look who finally decided to join us…" Bishop said as he stared at Josh with disgust.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who continues to read this, and to those who just found it. Thank you to Waffleninja and makaykay15 for the Reviews. And to pontiger27, Lir E. Hjort, and snapes griffindor for favoriting or alerting the story. So thank you again for supporting us through this endeavor. **


	4. Chapter 3

**A/n: Hey everyone! This is Preston speaking. In addition to Alexa being in Ireland right now, it's my turn to write a chapter so, yeah. Given a few emails and reviews, I feel the need to offer a response to a common concern. Yes, there are several OC's in this story. Their presence is strong but, hopefully (ideally) not overwhelming. They have been put in the story because they are somewhat necessary to our plot, and as such will have a few chapter sections dedicated to them. That being said, the main characters of this fiction **_**are**_ **Josh and Aidan and it is **_**their**_ **story that is being told. **

**I truly and sincerely hope that any presence of a few strong OC's won't drive you away, because, given time, I'm 98.6% certain that you will not regret their presence and will actually come to enjoy them.**

**A warm thank you to everyone who has taken interest in the story so far: Aurora528, TarotChild Conan, WaffleNinja, Makaykay15, Magnira, coffeegirl182, kutoki, Lir E. Hjort, CelticWitch18, Ookami Sakura, pontiger27, snapes griffindor, and XxXCarnageXxX.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

* * *

"_Two households, both alike in dignity,_  
_In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,_  
_From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,_  
_Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean._  
_From forth the fatal loins of these two foes_  
_A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;_  
_Whole misadventured piteous overthrows_  
_Do with their death bury their parents' strife._  
_The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,_  
_And the continuance of their parents' rage,_  
_Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,_  
_Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;_  
_The which if you with patient ears attend,_  
_What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."_

The voice boomed, seemingly larger than life, to the crowd paying rapt attention. Kate watched from her box seat, a sardonic smile on her face. Her eyes wandered the crowds below her, smelling the blood and hearing the steady rhythm of their heartbeats. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Fools. They were in the presence of royalty, the presence of a muse, the presence...of a predator. But they were clueless. They were watching actor's on a stage portray William Shakespeare's most famous piece. She was watching humans badly put her life story on display.

She reclined in her seat, watching the tale unfold as she had so many times before. No one would have guessed it, but the Bard was easily bought. When her family, and that of Alexander's, first approached him, she had no doubt in her mind that he refused them. But...their families had methods of persuasion no mortal could resist, even one so true to himself as William Shakespeare. The story of Romeo and Juliet is well know, but it's a bed-time story; watered-down and rewritten, much like Disney movies based on the stories of the Brothers Grimm. Ah, Wilhem and Jacob...lovely men. Driving them to the brink of madness had been a highlight of her long life.

How furious their parents were when they eloped! Shakespeare took inspiration from her, their, story, and wrote it down in a play. But that play would never reach the eyes and ears of the public, not with their families controlling the country. Instead, they made him rewrite it to their liking, until it was so diluted by _love_ and some self-righteous _blood-feud_ that she almost didn't recognize herself when it hit the stage. Ridiculous! How she loathed her family for what they did...

They turned her masterpiece of rebellion into a mockery! Their final hurrah, in making her life miserable and her effort wasted, was to have her carefully planned, carefully thought out plot forever remembered as a love story! Bastards. Ah, but that was then. They died for their impudence later, when she had a stronghold of her own with a veritable army to destroy them. Kate smiled, taking a drag from her cigarette. Yes, those were the days.

Back then her name had been Giulietta-Caterina Capulet, and his had been Romeo-Alessandro Montague. The children of two noble houses, two vampyric dynasties dating back to the reign of King Arthur. She was not a girl of thirteen, as the play had pronounced them, and nor was he the age of nineteen. All descendants were to remain human until their twenty-fifth birthday, when they were to be changed, if they had borne at least one child. The decision to age, or not to age, was to be of their own desire. It had been that way for centuries, was one of the most important traditions.

She was eighteen and he had been twenty-two, when they met for the first time. A year later, on her nineteenth birthday, they married and left their families. She, pregnant with their first child, and he, a fledgling vampire. The boat ride to the America's, shockingly, did nothing to avail her morning sickness. But that was a tale for another time. It was intermission now, and the smell of the hundred or so humans in the theater had aroused a phantom sensation of hunger.

She mingled with the crowd, trying to decide who to make her mid-day snack. Though she typically hunted without prejudice, blood was blood no matter how poor or wealthy, she was feeling in the mood for something...exotic. Ah. There, at twelve o'clock, was a handsome young man, maybe twenty years old. His blood held an aroma of cayenne pepper and Tabasco, an old Cajun bloodline. Being a vampire, food had long since lost it's flavor. In order to get some of that flavor back, you had to seek out old bloodlines from different parts of the world. Most vampires didn't care, but Kate liked to think she was more refined than that.

She enchanted him with her smile, her eyes hinting of an unspoken promise as she passed him by. He followed her, as they always did, down the maintenance corner, away from the crowd. She let him have a brief moment of excitement, kissing her sweetly, before she drove her fangs into his neck. He barely let out a gasp as she drained him, using pressure points to numb the pain he felt. As far as he knew, the girl he had cornered was just a biter. He had no idea that he would be dead in a matter of seconds.

As his strength faded, and he began to slip to the ground, she held him up and dragged him into a closet. She let him fall quietly to the floor, ensuring that no noise was made, and covered him with a tarp. She brushed a lock of hair from his forehead and closed his eyes.

"Go now to the Kingdom of Heaven, and let Him take you in his arms so that you may rest at last. Your purpose on this Earth has been served, your deed done. May you rest in peace, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Saying the words were difficult as they caught in her throat as if to choke her, but she said them none-the-less.

She would never leave a victim without his dignity and last rights; she'd been raised to say grace at the dinner table. She exited the closet unseen and checked herself in a hallway mirror, making sure not a drop of blood had been spilt. Manners were important, after all. As she prepared to reenter the theater, her nose caught a whiff of a familiar scent. Summer breeze, sweat, and honey wheat with a tinge of fresh cotton. Her feet carried her to the lobby, where, as she looked through the crowds of the museum, she spotted a back that was all too familiar to her. A back she had seen more times than the front, she admitted to herself with regret.

His ebony hair was messy, spiked out slightly with gel. His jeans were tattered and worn, as was the leather jacket he wore, but he wore them well, with an air of pride and grace. She descended the staircase slowly, coming to stand behind him with a smile on her face.

"Aidan," He turned around to face her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

* * *

Josh's head felt like it had been split in two. The bruises covering his body were numerous and colorful. Up until that point in time, Josh thought bruises only came in black, blue, yellow, and purple. Green and magenta could now be added to the list. His left eyes was swollen shut from where they had beaten him, his bottom lip cut open with blood crusting over the top. He probably looked like a horror movie throwback. All the same, it was just as well that he had been taken and his family remained safe. On the plus side, Marcus and Bishop were on the outs.

"_Marcus," Bishop began, circling him. "What have I told you about Aidan and his little pet?"_

"_The dog had it coming to him, he-" Bishop cut him off with an uppercut under the jaw, sending Marcus sprawling to the ground._

"_Let's try that again. __**What**_ _have I told you about Aidan and his little pet?"_

_Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Marcus replied "They are to be left alone."_

"_That's right. So, please, explain to me why you felt it necessary to go to the family's home and attack him __**again**__!"_

"_He attacked me. In an alley a few blocks from the hospital."_

"_Right. And, why did he attack you again?" Marcus opened his mouth to respond, but Bishop held up a hand. "Oh, that's right. I'd forgotten. __**You attacked his sister!**_"

_Marcus, obviously having understood that Bishop wasn't interested in hearing his reasons, stayed silent._

"_Marcus, this is not the way we do things! I would have dealt with the dog appropriately, when the time came. You do not have the authority to attack anyone, much less the sister of Aidan's pet."_

"_Aidan this and Aidan that, why won't you let it go that he's a traitor? He's no better than this mutt, or the whacked out prostitute I ate for dinner last night!"_

_Bishop snarled and hurled him into the wall, his hand closing around Marcus' throat. "Aidan is family, Marcus! Every family has a black sheep, but they are still __**family**__. You have no idea the trouble you could have caused if he had died! All of our planning, wasted, because of a single act of anger!"_

"_What's so special about him? He's younger, weaker, a liability!"_

"_He is special because I say he's special. __**You do not question me! I do not need to explain my reasons to you and I think, perhaps, it's time that you are reminded of that!"**_

_Bishop snapped his fingers and Marcus was flanked by two other vampires, who dragged him towards the eastern end of the room. Still holding him by his arms, they kicked the corner of a rug to the side, revealing a trap door. A third vampire unlocked the hatch and opened the door. Marcus began to struggle against his captors, but was shoved down into the hole regardless. He screamed briefly, but the hatch was quickly shut and locked, drowning out his screams. The rug was righted and the vampires returned to their stations in the outer ring of the room._

"_Let that be a lesson to all of you," Bishop met the eyes of every minion in the room. "Now go, go and fill this city with vampires. And someone bring me some takeout, will you? I've got a ton of work to do and I'll be hungry."_

_Bishop retreated to the back room, where he sat at his desk and picked up a phone. Josh strained to hear the conversation, but was unable. He glared at nothing in particular, unable to spy and unable to do anything other than sit in agony and boredom. As the vampires left the large room, single file, Josh couldn't help but turn his glare on them._

"_What are you looking at?" A tall, skinny vampire who could probably light as a BDSM party host said_

"_Nothing I'd ever want to see again." Josh was instantly reminded of the age old adage 'Be careful what you wish for, because you just night get it' when, in the next instant, the last thing he saw was a jet black book with metal hooks coming out of it coming towards his face._

That had been two days ago, when Josh first arrived. Since then, he had been beaten several times, and fed little to keep him alive. Bishop had decided that while Marcus had been out of line, he could use this opportunity to teach Aidan a lesson. So, he kept Josh looking in a terrible state, for shock value, and kept him alive for the same reason. He waited. They both waited for Aidan to arrive. Bishop's spies had told him that Aidan hadn't been home since he had left Josh's house, and some speculated that he had gone for good.

Josh knew better. Aidan had said he was going to take care of this, and he had faith that he would. Bishop was of the same mindset, and patient enough to leave Josh in chains, alive, much to the chagrin of his clan, who complained almost constantly about the smell. Marcus' screams had long since subsided, pathetic whimpers left in their place. Josh almost felt sorry for him. He didn't know what was in the pit, but he was sure he didn't want to find out.

The old oak door creaking open caught Josh's attention and interrupted his internal monologue. Bishop entered and kicked the door closed behind him. His purposeful stride towards his office faltered and eventually stopped, with a thoughtful expression on his face he pulled a chair to the middle of the room and sat in front of Josh, his hands clasped together.

"Despite the fact that you've been a guest in my home for a few days now, I feel," Bishop paused, searching for the right word. "Regretful that I haven't gotten to know you very well. So, let's have a chat. To start us off, what do you think of my home?"

"I think you could use a new decorator; the last one was obviously a crack whore who specialized in BDSM. And, frankly, it's a little drafty."

Bishop chuckled "You're funny. I can appreciate a sense of humor, you know. And, how about my staff?"

"They leave something to be desired. Your cook is awful and can't seem to distinguish the difference between something that's moldy and something that's, well, not moldy. Your maids are obviously not hired for their cleaning skills because, _damn_, the spiders look like something out of a 1980's sci-fi horror and I'm pretty sure anyone who uses that toilet over there will pick up something nasty and painful."

"Aidan didn't seem to mind it, when he was here."

"Well, maybe that's a contributing factor to why he chose me over you."

"Did he, really though? I mean, I'm still around aren't I? For all of his threats about killing me if I do this, or if one of my family does that, _I'm still here_. Furthermore, I've had you in my custody for what, three days now? No Aidan."

"It's a work in progress. Aidan likes to think before he acts."

"I'm sure, but, I wonder how well you know him. How much has he told you about his past, exactly? His family?"

Josh felt his face color. "Enough. What's past, is past."

"How very cavalier of you! But, what do you define as 'past'?"

"...More than thirty years ago."

"Huh," Bishop smiled, and Josh felt his heart drop to his stomach. "Boy, do I have some stories to tell you. I'm sure you've probably heard most of them anyway, right?"

Josh stayed silent, determined not to listen to the word which he knew to be pure poison and nothing more.

"Sad story, what he did to his family. A fledgling vampire, unable to control the urges, in denial about what he had become. He went home, though I told him not to, and tried to pretend like everything was alright. Of course, he took one bite of food that his wife prepared for him and had to go throw up, so there was that. And then, late at night, while he and his wife were making love, he couldn't control it anymore."

Josh felt nauseous, desperate not to hear any more, but from the sheer look of satisfaction of Bishop's face, Josh could tell that wasn't an option.

"He literally ripped her throat out, driven mad by blood lust. She only let loose one scream before she died. But, that scream was enough. Their eldest son, age twelve, came running to their bedroom. Aidan described to me the look of horror on the boy's face, with _glee_. He wasted no time in killing the boy, watching the light drain from his eyes. Then, he turned on their five-year old son,"

Josh was unable to cope with the images assaulting his mind. Unbidden, the contents of his stomach emptied themselves into the piss pot they had been kind enough to provide him. For the first time in his life, Josh was never more glad to have an relatively empty stomach. Bishop seemed unaffected and continued his story.

"...Their daughter was only one years old at the time, sleeping soundly in her crib,"

Josh began to dry-heave, his now empty stomach still trying to relieve itself of anything that might still be inside.

"Of course, in years to come, it would become his pattern. He would read the newspaper every morning for wedding announcements. It was his...specialty. Infiltrate the wedding party, and kill, well, everyone. He had quite a knack for it too. And you know what? He _still_ has a knack for it."

"You're wrong! He would never do that anymore. That was a long, long time ago. He's different than that."

Bishop continued, lost in his memories. "He was charming, and handsome, and people fell at his feet. Are you going to tell me that people still don't fall at his feet? It wasn't as long ago as you might think, dog," Bishop sighed, a mournful tone coloring his voice. "He was my brightest pupil, and one of her favorites. He could have gone far, been a leader in the coming times."

Josh looked up, a questioning look in his eye. "Her? And what do you mean, the coming times?"

* * *

"I need your help."

Kate looked at him, one eyebrow cocked. "The last time we spoke, you made it very clear that you wanted nothing to do with me or my influence."

"Things have...happened, changed."

"Yes," Kate said, pausing to wrinkle her nose delicately. "I can smell that. You've been associating with a werewolf, frequently."

"Yes, but that's not even the half of it. Bishop is -"

"Bishop? The last I was informed, you two were peas in a pod."

"Things have changed."

"Evidently! Come, you can explain to me over coffee."

Aidan paused, ready to object, but thought better of it. This was how Kate operated, and if he wanted her help, he would need to play by her rules. With a pleasant if impatient smile, he offered her his arm. Kate accepted his arm with grace and the two walked, arm in arm, out the doors of the museum. They walked the three blocks to the local starbucks in silence, Aidan contemplating what to say to her and how to say it, Kate simply enjoying his presence.

She remembered their time together, well over fifty years ago. God she had been besotted with him, he was her perfect companion, at least until she and Alexander reconciled. Bishop had been so proud that she had taken in one of his fledges to be her consort. Fool. Aidan's ability as a vampire had very little to do with why she chose him. Rather, his pretty face and charming personality had more to do with it. Regardless, she let Bishop think what he would; it benefited Aidan to have Bishop think as much.

Kate got her coffee and joined Aidan at a table in the back.

"Alright, now what's going on between you and Bishop?"

"I had a...change of heart. I've stopped drinking live, I'm working at a hospital where I've refused to let Bishop recruit, and my roommate and best friend is a werewolf."

Kate's eyebrows raised almost to her hairline. "Vegan, masochist, brave, and social worker. I'm impressed. You sure have flipped the coin."

"Yeah... My friend, in a drunken stupor, beat the shit out of Marcus."

"Marcus, as in the ginger jack-ass who was permanently glued to Bishop's side? That can't be good."

"In retaliation, Marcus went after his sister and put her in the hospital."

"My god!"

"When Josh found out who attacked her, he went after Marcus, in broad daylight. By the time I got to him, he was being beaten to a bloody pulp by Marcus and Jack. I pulled them off of him and drove Josh and Emily to their parent's house. I don't know how Bishop or Marcus will react, but I know it's not going to be good."

"I see. So, you want my interference."

"Yes."

"Aidan," Kate paused, taking a sip of her coffee. "If I return to Massachusetts with you and pull rank on Bishop, I'll want something in return."

"I expected as much, and given the situation I'm in, I would agree to just about anything."

Kate smiled.

* * *

Carson lay in her bed, staring morosely at the ceiling.

"_Carson, this really isn't my kind of thing..."_

"_Oh, come on Megan! This is your chance to live a little! It's good to experience new things, remember?"_

"_Not necessarily! I mean, I could go out and experience getting murdered and it would be new but not so good!"_

"_You're being melodramatic. You are not going to be murdered at a party."_

"_How do you know? Are you psychic? Or, did you already arrange my murder and you're now trying to lure me into your sinister trap? That's it! You want my vintage LOTR collection, don't you?"_

"_Megan..."_

"_...Oh, fine. I'll think about it."_

"_Great! It's next week, and wear something... on second thought, I'll come over beforehand and help."_

"_Hey! I never said I'd go!" _

"_Right. I'll be here at 5."_

"_If anything bad happens, I'm holding you responsible."_

Carson breathed in a shaky breath and rolled over, her leg giving her a little trouble.

**It's all your fault. **

"I never meant for it to happen," Carson breathed out in a whisper. "It was never supposed to happen."

**You killed her. It's your fault she died. **

A sob escaped her, echoing in her room. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

**It's your fault.**

"It's my fault..." Her eyes filled with tears, she pulled the pillow over her head. "My fault..."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/n: Preston here, hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing great. These past couple of episodes have been rough, but Amylase and I have figured out how we're going to proceed (finally).**

_**Hello! Sorry I haven't been around lately, just got back from Ireland and it was freakin' awesome! So I have officially caught up on all the episodes I missed, so here is the next installment. **_

* * *

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

* * *

Josh felt his head loll on his shoulders, unable to place which way it was actually turned. He was sure that he looked like Barney by now, but he hadn't seen himself in a mirror in… How long _had_ it been? He had long since lost count of the days. His mind wandered almost constantly, to Aidan and the hospital and Nora… Oh god, Nora. What would she think when he reappeared? If he had had the strength to groan, he would have. At some point, Josh's smart remarks had gotten noticed, and he had been moved to a cell shrouded in darkness. The door opened and light shed in, causing him to shield his eyes. He felt hands grab him roughly by the shirt, dragging him up by his armpits.

He was thrown to the floor at Bishop's feet, unable to even sit up. He was held up, on his knees, by flunkies on either side of him.

"Well, well, well. How are you doing? Comfortable?"

Josh said nothing, looking at him despondently.

"It's been three days since you joined us. Three days, and no Aidan. Not so much as a whisper. Why is that, don't you think?" Bishop cocked his head to the side, his eyes boring down on him.

"You know, you were _so_ chatty when you first got here. Why so quiet now? Have you lost faith in your **friend**?"

"No!" Josh meant to shout, but his voice was unable and it came out as a wheezy rasp instead.

"No? Then, why hasn't he come?"

Josh once again fell silent, having wondered the same thing himself the past three days. Where was Aidan?

"I'm sure you've been lonely down there, so I arranged for you to have some company. Unfortunately, there was a little…accident on their way here. It is with my _deepest_ sympathy that I must inform you of the death of your family."

Josh felt the blood pound in his ears, could hear it rushing through his veins. If he hadn't been being held up by them, he would have been on the ground. The first feeling that arose was disbelief, denial. He wanted to believe that Bishop was lying, wanted to believe that this was a trick of some kind. The second feeling that arose was anger, blinding unadulterated fury. His eyes rose to meet Bishop's, and a deep roar broke through the surface.

As his spine straightened, he rose. He felt his muscles tighten in anticipation of the impact. Time seemed to slow down drastically, seeming to still. His forearms snapped outwards, sending them flying backwards. Bishop stepped backwards uncertainly, his feet bracing the ground, ready for a fight. Before Josh could move forward, Jack had already regained his footing and had Josh held back by his arms. Josh fought against the restraints, lunging for Bishop, who stepped back, just out of reach.

"Boys, I think we've got a rabid dog on our hands. Wouldn't you agree?"

Now that Josh was properly restrained, Bishop glided forward, a spring in his step.

"And do you know what we do with rabid dogs, Josh? We destroy them. We are doing a public service, you realize that? No more painful transformation, no more worries about accidentally turning someone. It will…all…go…away."

The anger that had once fueled Josh evaporated, leaving in it's place a shell. A sense of hopelessness sank into Josh, the spark in his eye diminishing. He had endured three days of pure hell, of torture, for what? To be abandoned? His family was dead, Aidan wasn't coming, and Bishop was…right. What had he even been thinking, trying to live like a normal human? As he relaxed and let himself go limp, Bishop pulled his gun from his holster.

"You'll be a hero, I promise. Sad story, really. Medical technician on his way home from a late shift in a rough part of the neighborhood, sees a drug deal gone wrong and rushes over to help. The dealer, probably tweaked out on whatever he was selling, sees him coming and panics, taking a shot as he fled the scene. Only concerned with the welfare of the civilian, the technician doesn't see the dealer raise his gun…" Bishop's voice was soft, melodic, almost soothing. Though Josh was vaguely aware of the gun being pointed at his sternum, it was through cloudy eyes, as though he was watching a scene in the mist.

"It won't hurt, I promise you – my aim is impeccable. Just…let…go…"

As Bishop's finger grazed the trigger, the door was blown open in a show of force. The room was quickly swarmed with vampires, hired men, not Bishop's. Bishop's forces were quickly disarmed, Bishop himself disarmed. As surprised as he was, he wasn't stupid enough to try anything. Whoever these men belonged to was someone Bishop did not want to tangle with.

"Bishop," a sweet voice called out from the doorway. "It's been awhile, yes? About fifty years, I think."

Bishop visibly stiffened at the voice, and his heart surely would have skipped a beat if it had one.

"Katherine," Bishop smiled, quickly recovering, and opened his arms wide. "What a surprise," Kate smiled demurely, and held out one hand. His lips brushed her knuckles gently, a proper greeting. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Ah," She withdrew her hand and gave a gracious smile, walking into the parlor with her heels clicking softly against the wooden floor. She sat in a leather chair, gracefully crossing her ankles. Bishop sat across from her on the sofa, waiting patiently for her to continue.

"Now, what was it, exactly, that I was interrupting?" Her eyes bore into his, unblinking, as her hands worked quickly to remove the hat pins, the vintage Victorian Cap Hat sliding gently off, placed on the side table. Her illustrious chestnut curls were pinned into place, framing her face. Bishop allowed his eyes to travel over her body, taking in the black pencil skirt that rode just above the knee and the creme colored collared shirt she wore underneath an ebony jacket.

"A werewolf attacked a member of my family, Marcus. We were about to put him down."

"A werewolf attacked a vampire? That's unusual, especially given the fact that their strength comes from the moon and the full moon isn't until tonight. By the looks of him, I would say that you've had him here for several days."

"He has been with us for three days."

"Three? Well, you certainly haven't lost your touch, I'll give you that." Kate said, gesturing to the bruises and overall poor shape that Josh was in. She stood and glided over to where Josh lay on the ground, his guards having been driven off when Kate entered. With a gentle hand, she tilted his face upward to look him in the eye. "You're young, a pup, really. Still, you don't strike me as stupid. Why did you attack him?"

"He's a rabid dog, incapable of -"

Kate's eyes sharpened and her head snapped to look at him. "I believe I was talking to the wolf. When I want your opinion, Bishop, I will ask for it." Though her voice was sweet, there was an undercurrent rich with warning. With a smile, she turned back to Josh. "Go ahead."

Josh wasn't sure if this was some kind of trick, but he had nothing left to lose at this point and figured it couldn't hurt to tell the truth. "It's kind of a long story," His voice was soft, raspy, having gone on used for a few days. A glass of water appeared, almost instantly, by one of Kate's men. "I've been dealing with this the best I can, being a wolf. I gave up my family, left medical school, moved to a different city... I didn't want anyone to get hurt, or worse turned," He paused to take a sip of water.

"A couple of weeks ago, I met another werewolf, one who was older and had been doing this longer. He was trying to teach me how to control and channel the wolf side of me. Eventually, I found out that this was the same werewolf who had bitten me, cursed me. Before that, we were at a bar the night before the full moon. He smelled Marcus and the other vampires and attacked them. I told him not to do it, but at some point it looked like he was going to be overwhelmed...I jumped in to help him." His admittance was riddled with guilt, Kate could see.

"Marcus retaliated about five days ago. He saw my sister leave the bar and attacked her, then dropped her off at my home. She was badly beaten and bloody. I took her to the hospital and the next day... I had gone home to change and shower before heading back to check on her, and something inside me snapped. I went looking for Marcus. He had no right to attack her!"

"I left with my sister that night. We went...home. I was planning to stay the night, but during dinner I heard a noise outside. I went out on the porch to check it out and the next thing I know, I wake up in here."

Kate's eyebrows raised. "I see. Well now, that's quite a story."

"He said he killed my family, that he went back and killed my family. Is it true?" Josh's voice came out in a pleading tone, desperately hoping it was a lie.

Kate looked at him with sincere pity. "I don't know. Aidan," She called out.

Aidan stepped through the entryway cautiously and visibly flinched when he saw the shape Josh was in.

"Aidan, why don't you take your friend home? I think I've seen all that I needed to see here." Kate's eyes traveled back to Bishop. Aidan wasted no time and ushered to Josh's side, helping him up. Josh leaned on Aidan, hobbling forward one step at a time. Aidan cast a grateful look over his shoulder at Kate, who acknowledged it with a single nod and enigmatic smile.

"I think we need to have a talk, Bishop." Kate gestured for him to take a seat, even as his eyes followed Aidan and Josh out the door.

* * *

_Sammi's POV_

As I walked out of the operating room, I cracked my neck since it was stiff from having to look at the surgery from a weird angle. I walked, slowly, to the staff locker room and took a load off. It had been a long shift, 4:30 am to almost 10 pm. I rubbed my eyes, God I wish I liked coffee, I really could've used some right then. Maybe she would try it again once she got home, Carson would definitely have some coffee made by now.

I just decided to leave my scrubs on for the drive home, they were comfortable enough, and I didn't have too much time anyway. I'm on call now, so whenever there's a neurosurgery, I have to go in and watch. I don't even get to do anything, yet. I still just have to watch the surgery.

I walked by the board and noticed that Aidan wasn't on it again, and Josh wasn't either. They had been gone for three days now, and I was worried… they are the only people she knows in the hospital. And not having them there for her first day was… well it was less than hoped. I had been hoping that Aidan would've been there to help me, I was like a kid back in high school again, a transfer, and not knowing the norms of the hospital. Let's just say I had been a wall flower for the past three days, not talking much and not really being a social butterfly.

I walked outside, the sun had set, but I took a deep breath of fresh air having not been outside in over 15 hours. I looked up at the moon peaking out over the buildings across the street from the hospital. I always liked the night, but at the same time I found that I was always on edge when darkness came.

I pushed my edginess down when I got to my car… though once inside I immediately looked the doors and turned around to check the back seat. Carson may call it paranoid, but it's just natural for me to do that.

I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, I honestly don't remember the drive home. All I remember is parking out front, walking up the stairs, unlocking the door, and locking it again behind me. I expected to be blasted with the smell of coffee, which usually hit me around this time of night. Carson usually made a pot or two around this time to keep her up at night… the time she usually got her ideas for stories. I was surprised when there was no smell of coffee, and there was no music playing from upstairs in her little nook, which I nicknamed the Black Hole because things disappear and reappear at random intervals, so I decided to check up on her.

The door was only slightly open, and the desk light was obviously on, and the computer too, but I couldn't see Carson sitting at the desk.

"Carson?" I asked as I opened the door slowly.

Once the door was opened I noticed all of the sheets of crumpled up paper on the floor. More than usual that is… I mean sure she sometimes had a few pieces here or there, but now there was literally an entire notebook full of paper of the floor.

Not to mention Carson was sitting, no lying, in the middle of the massive tornado zone, blankly staring at the ceiling.

"Carson?" I asked hoping that she would answer now.

When she didn't answer I knew that something was wrong… everything added up. Having writer's block, no coffee made, lots of crumpled paper (Carson had stopped using paper notebooks once she had her new Dell computer), and she was lying on the floor with an expressionless stare.

I sighed, "Carson…" I went over to touch her on the shoulder. She jumped as if she had been in a trance and I had just broken it.

"Oh, Sammi…" Carson said sitting up.

"What happened? Writer's block again?"

"Um… yeah… sure," Carson still wasn't looking at me.

"Come on… what is it?"

"Its nothing. Like you said writer's block…"

"And a pretty bad one by the looks of it."

"Yeah…"

There was a long pause, Sammi felt like Carson wasn't telling her the whole truth, but didn't want to push it.

"I think I'll go out…"

"What?" I asked shocked, standing up. "You want me to come with?"

"No, I need to be alone to clear my head…"

I just stood there shocked, while Carson rose from the ground and began to grab jeans and a t-shirt. Carson hadn't gone out alone for almost five years now, ever since… well ever since the 'incident' happened.

"Well I guess I'll just stay in then and catch up on my sleep," I said heading for the door to Carson's Black Hole. "And try not to stay out too late… I would like to be able to see you sometime this week." I said with a chuckle. "Also if you need a ride home don't hesitate to call," since Carson was still in a boot and being a doctor I knew she shouldn't walk too much on it.

"Okay…" Carson said like she was talking with her mother.

I just left the room figuring I should let her work it out… she usually calmed down faster when just left alone.

I entered my room, and went straight for my jewelry box to take out my earrings. When I opened it though to place the small diamond earrings in the box I saw the leather bracelet Megan brought me back from her study abroad in Ireland.

Megan.

I picked it up and sat down on my bed, I began to feel the leather, how smooth and soft it was. Tears began to well up in my eyes as I remembered that night...

_We were there to celebrate graduating college. Megan and Carson were going to move in together while I went off to Harvard Medical . _

_"Megan," I whined at her. "Come and dance." _

_Megan gave me you're-kidding-me-right? look. _

_"You're suppose to dance at a club Megan."_

_"Well I usually don't do either..." _

_"Come on Megan! Just this once... you never even went to a high school dance. So how do you know you won't enjoy yourself?"_

_Megan contemplated what I said, but I was too impatient for a response. "Why'd you even come if you aren't gonna dance?" _

_"Oh fine," Megan said as she got out of the chair. _

_"Yeah!" I said in excitement because after seven years of trying Megan was finally gonna dance. _

_I walked over to Carson, who was standing at the edge of a giant mosh pit, with a giddy smile on my face. _

_"What now?" _

_"Guess who got the wall flower to dance?" I stated proudly as Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire came on the speakers. _

_"Megan, glad you could join us," Carson said eyeing the mosh pit for our plan of attack. _

_"Wait, we aren't going in __**there**__ are we?" Megan asked looking nervous. _

_"Of course, just follow me," I told her as I followed Carson into the mass of people. _

_I kept looking back as we progressed farther into the mosh pit just to make sure Megan was behind me. I noticed ahead of me Carson had found a spot, almost in the exact middle of the mosh pit for us to start dancing. Carson and I had done this many times before, so we were not uncomfortable with beginning to dance and bumping into other people. Megan on the other hand, was just trying to stand in her own bubble... which in a mosh pit gets burst almost instantly. _

_"Just dance Megan!" I tried to shout to her over the music. "No one cares how you dance in here!" I added with a smile. _

_But as Megan began to dance, I thought that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Megan's dancing was, weird. I mean for her being a music person, I thought I danced to the beat better than she did. But after a few awkward seconds, Megan finally just let her body sway to the music. Not to mention I thought I saw her smile, but my gaze quickly shifted to a man walking within the mosh pit. At first I found him quite attractive, to the point where I couldn't take my eyes off of him. But I soon had a strange feeling, I noticed how he was bumping into people, and people bumped him, yet he just seemed to glide on through the mosh pit, like a knife through butter. _

_Even with this feeling, I still had my eyes on him, like they were glued there. Then all of a sudden he was gone, I looked around trying to find him, but he had vanished. I turned to look at where Megan and Carson had been dancing, but they were gone too. _

_A moment later, I hear a blood curdling scream._

I could hear my heart pounding in my chest. Its just a memory, I told myself. But that didn't help, cause that's the thing, its a memory, it had happened. I thought I had gotten over this, put it behind me, but now it was coming back to haunt me. Great, another reason for me not to get any sleep.

* * *

Kate watched Bishop pour her a glass of wine from the corner of her eye, a sweet smile on her face. "Thank you for the wine. Now, to business?"

Bishop nodded. "I noticed Aidan come in through the door. Can I presume that he had something to do with this?"

Kate sipped her wine and paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "Aidan came to me, yes. He was concerned for his friend, the werewolf, and for you."

"For me? Really, that's...interesting."

"Your people have been careless, Bishop. Disappearances are becoming more noticeable, more frequent. Even as the chief of police, you can't cover everything up."

"Well now, I wouldn't say careless."

"Well I would. That stunt you pulled with those two kids, for example."

Bishop's eyes rose to meet hers and his mouth opened to protest, but he was silenced with a flick of her wrist.

"Don't tell me that wasn't you pulling the puppet strings. I did my homework before I agreed to intervene on Aidan's behalf. I applaud you for taking control of the situation the way you did, as Aidan starting a family of his own doesn't suit my tastes anymore than it did yours, but you exposed us."

"The police reports show nothing about the bite marks, nothing at all!"

"And the families? They have their funerals, their open-casket wake. Are you going to tell me that no one noticed? That's just one incident. This werewolf you kidnapped, Josh, isn't just some hillbilly hick that you can kick around! His family is important! People would go looking for him if he disappeared."

"If anyone came looking we would _suggest_ that they look elsewhere."

"That," Kate snapped, losing her temper. "Isn't good enough. _Suggestion_ is just that. A suggestion. Humans have been known to break through them before, and when you are talking about _the sheer number_ of memories you would have to alter to make something like this go away..."

Kate fell silent for a moment, her poise returning. "It has been decided, by the council, that until further notice your leadership of Boston has been **suspended**."

Bishop's jaw clenched, his fists curling in rage. "They can't do that!"

"They just did. For now, I will assume control of Boston."

"You? Of course. Because this wasn't a plan at all."

"Just business, Bishop. The council has been tallying all the incidents in the past thirty years. I had to approach them to leave New York and come here to...visit. They found it to be fortuitous and decided to keep me here indefinitely, at least until you can show that you are capable of taking caring of business properly."

"I see."

"I am going to return to my hotel. The journey was a long one, and I'm tired. Perhaps you will escort me out?"

"Of course, Kate. We are old friends after all."

"Yes, well, as unpleasant as the circumstances may be, it _is_ good to see you again. I'm sure this little matter will be cleared up soon, never fear."

"You know," Bishop paused at the door to smile falsely, his eyes betraying the sheer fury he felt. "I was thinking the exact same thing."

Kate said nothing, but acknowledged it with a gracious smile, her own eyes portraying a warning. "Until later, Bishop."

The door closed shut behind her, and Bishop's men scattered backwards to avoid dealing with the aftermath. He was seething, utterly furious, but was outwardly calm and collected. He sank into his seat, one finger tapping the desk at a furious pace. As quickly as it started, it stopped. Suddenly, any energy Bishop had been exporting as anger ceased to flow. Instead, he picked up the phone with a tight jaw and calculation in his eyes. His men eyed each other with concern.

"Hello, yes I'm calling for -" There was a response on the other line, a short unpleasant voice. Bishop cut them off "He'll know who I am. Put me through."

And after a few moments of silence, the person Bishop called for finally picked up the phone. Bishop smiled. "I appreciate you taking my call. Tell me, Alexander, do you know where your wife is right now?"

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to all those who are still reading, and are hanging with us through this long update time. **

**Thank you so much to our old fans: Aurora528, TarotChild Conan, WaffleNinja, Makaykay15, Magnira, coffeegirl182, kutoki, Lir E. Hjort, CelticWitch18, Ookami Sakura, pontiger27, snapes griffindor, and XxXCarnageXxX. **

**And the new ones! : laughsforlove, Dexter Kelso, and transit! **

**We thank you all so much and let us know how we're doing!**


	6. Chapter 4 Part II

**A/n: Thank you to everyone who has read, and continues to read, our story. On another note, this chapter is a continuation of the previous. We would have put this with Part I but the chapter would have been ridiculously long as Part I was already 11 pages on a word doc. Also this is 15 pages long, we didn't want to cut it, but don't expect it to be this long from now on… its just this chapter. **

**And sorry this took so long, we've been very busy and had the season finale of Being Human so we were trying to figure some things out… and finally did, and this is the product.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

* * *

Aidan helped Josh back to his car, and placed him carefully inside. The drive back to their place was slow and silent. Aidan looked over at him in the passenger's seat every once and a while, to make sure he was alright. But every time Aidan looked over, Josh was just staring out the window expressionless.

Aidan parked the car just outside of their house. He got out of the car, and walked around the front of the car to open Josh's door. He reached in to help Josh out of the car, but he just pulled his arm away. Aidan decided it was better not to push Josh.

Aidan walked to the front door and unlocked it. Josh hobbled up the steps behind him, so Aidan opened and held the door for him.

"Thanks," Josh said in a monotone whisper, as he sulked into the living room. But Josh didn't stop there, he headed straight for the kitchen and sat down on one of their wooden chairs. Aidan walked in behind him, gabbed a towel from a drawer and got it wet. He went over to Josh to try and wipe off some of the caked on blood, but Josh just turned away.

Aidan was starting to get fed up with Josh's attitude, but decided that Josh had been through a lot in the past three days and deserved to be a little pissed off. So, Aidan just placed the damp towel on the table and sat down across from him.

Josh looked at the towel, then looked up at Aidan. Aidan cringed as he saw how badly Josh's face was beaten and looked away. Josh picked up the towel and began to wipe his face, stopping every once and a while to check if the towel was dirty with his blood.

After a few minutes, that seemed like a lifetime, Josh looked up and asked, "Is my face clean?"

"Looks good Josh…" Aidan said, seeing all the cuts and bruises on Josh's face.

There was another long pause before Josh worked up enough courage to ask what was on his mind. "What took you so long?"

"What took me so long?" Aidan repeated shocked.

"Yeah Aidan, why did it take you three days to rescue me?" Josh said getting annoyed.

"Josh I had to pull some very old strings to get you out of there… It took some time, okay?" Aidan said in disbelief. He had done everything within his power to get Josh out of there as quickly as possible, and he was acting like Aidan hadn't done enough.

"I would have asked that maybe you could rescued me a little sooner perhaps?"

"Josh… what's wrong?" Aidan said, realizing there was something more going on that Josh let on.

"Is it true?" Josh said softly, and not making eye contact.

"Is what true?" Aidan responded confused.

"Everything…" Josh said. But when he noticed that Aidan was still playing dumb he added, "Bishop told me…"

"Bishop told you what?" Aidan said impatiently cutting off Josh.

"He told me… stories… are they true?"

"What kind of stories?"

"Like, your past stories."

Aidan was taken aback. He had tried so hard to keep his past from Josh, telling him only what he need to know to keep him alive. Now, Josh knew everything, and he found out in the worst way possible… from Bishop. But Aidan had to make sure that Josh was told the truth before he spilled his guts, and accepted everything Bishop had told Josh. "So how much did he tell you?"

"Not much…" Which made Aidan feel a little better, but what Josh said next quickly made that feeling dissipate. "But he did tell me about your family, and how much you like weddings…" Josh said trying to make it sound a little better.

"Josh, those things happened a long time ago. I have renounced those ways, and am living the life you know me to live… and I will never go back." Aidan said seriously.

"But you had a family Aidan… and what you did to them… you were trying to live a normal life… like you are right now... how do you expect not to do the same thing to someone else." But at that moment Josh remembered Rebecca…

Aidan turned away, he couldn't look at Josh, not when he knew Josh was thinking the exact same thing… Rebecca. He had done the same thing to Rebecca as he had his wife. Aidan realized that Josh may have a point. How could he expect to keep going with this life, if he was making the mistakes of a new-born?

"Aidan… What is this all for anyway? Huh?" Josh said with wide eyes.

"I'm trying to change who I am Josh. I am trying to change what I had become over the past few lifetimes."

"But who says you _can_change? After what happened to Rebecca…"

"Don't Josh…" Aidan said sternly. "I know what happened with Rebecca… I got careless. It won't happen again."

"But you said yourself you've slipped up before…"

"I know Josh!" Aidan said more demoralized than ever. "And they do a great job reminding me…"

"They?"

"Bishop and…" Aidan caught himself before slipped up on her name. "Marcus."

"That's not who you were going to say Aidan… Now tell me who?"

"Yes it was."

"Was it that woman that came in before you at Bishops place…"

"No," Aidan said unconvincingly.

"Who was she anyway?" Josh said prodding.

"Uh… an old friend."

"Oh…" Josh said raising his eyebrows suggestively. "How _good_of an old friend are was talking about.

"Just a friend…"

"And a very powerful one at that, to make Bishop stop in his tracks like that."

"Yeah, her name is Katherine… she's very old, and very powerful… Not someone you should mess with."

"But you know her, really well I'd say."

"Yeah, and now her husband hates me, and wants me dead."

"So you two did have a thing…"

Aidan, realizing he said too much already, decided he might as well tell Josh the whole truth. "Katherine and I had a thing for about 150 years or so, we killed a lot of people, Josh. But I was just a fling to her, she had a husband already, another powerful vampire, who she had gotten into a fight with a few months before we met. But after a decade or so, decided to make it up to her, and in the process wanted me _removed_from the picture. Katherine, who had taken a liking to me, decided to hide me away with Bishop, and pretend that she had killed me. Since then I haven't seen her, but I knew she would help me whenever I asked… That's what took me three days Josh. I had to track her down, and convince her that you were worth her time to save. I'm sorry it took so long, but that was the fastest I could get everything in motion."

Josh began to feel bad about being angry earlier, and realized that Aidan had pulled a lot of strings to get him rescued. "I'm sorry Aidan, I didn't realize…"

"Its alright Josh… Come on, lets get you to the woods; you'll be changing soon." Aidan said, quickly changing the subject.

Aidan helped Josh back out the front door, and into his car. Aidan drove Josh to their usual drop off point.

"Here Aidan," Josh said handing Aidan his Star of David necklace. Josh started to walk towards the woods, but turned around to add, "Thanks Aidan, for everything."

Aidan smiled and leaned over the passenger's seat to say, "That's what friends are for, right?" Aidan returned to the driver's seat, but added, "Goodnight Josh."

"Goodnight Aidan," Josh said walking into the woods for another night of hell.

* * *

Carson leaned on the bar, counting the bottles lining the wall. One bottle of rum on the wall, one bottle of rum... Everyone around her was boisterous, obnoxiously happy. She wished she could join in, be apart of the merriment. Well, so she would. To hell with this depression! She went out to get Megan off her mind, and what better way than getting hammered and wandering home with a cute guy? She was throwing caution to the wind, embracing danger and excitement. Maybe something bad would happen to her. Maybe then she wouldn't feel so guilty. Even as she perked up and began spotting - she had always been apt at picking out personalities - she knew she would only feel worse in the morning. Still, she had to try.

* * *

Kate straightened her skirt, smoothing the wrinkles out and adjusting it at her hips. Her nap had been divine, and the room service... well, it was adequate. Her door opened, but she didn't turn around; she had sent her maid out for take-out almost an hour ago, so for all the time it took her it had better be Princely in origin. She closed her eyes and rolled her shoulders, mentally commenting to buy a house and put a decent bed in. When there was no other sound made but for the door shutting, she realized that it wasn't Julia returned with her dinner. Before she could turn around, she felt hands on her shoulders, hands she knew extremely well... ones she would normally welcome and shiver at. She forced her shoulders to relax, not wanting to betray her nervousness.

"Darling, what are you doing here?"

His lips caressed the dip between her shoulder and her neck. "You disappeared for awhile, my love, without a word."

"I know. Boston needed attention; Bishop has gotten out of control. The council asked me to come immediately."

"So quickly you didn't have time to inform your husband of five hundred years where you were going? And why did the council ask _you_to come instead of someone else?"

"It was all very sudden," Kate said, turning around to face him. "And the council chose me because of our success in New York. They knew that one of us must remain in New York and knew that you were already dealing with the Danielle situation. Or did you think I'd forgotten about that?" Kate sneered, moving to brush past him.

He grabbed her arm as she passed. "Hey, nothing happened. I told you that. And, you know what, Kate," His voice was clipped, and dipped into a lower register. "At least I told you about her. I didn't run off with her to another state, for one thing."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play this game with me, Kate. I know you lied to me. You told me, when we reunited that you had killed him. You _lied_. That bastard is still walking around, and obviously unashamed of what he's done because he sure as hell didn't waste any time going to you for help."

"Exactly. For _help_. Not for an affair, or anything of that nature. Help."

"No, but one hundred and fifty years ago it _was_of that nature. The conditions of our getting back together were that I destroy my escort, and you destroy yours so that we would never again be tempted."

Kate folded her arms over her chest. "He didn't deserve to die. Elena was a whore."

"That's not the point."

"It's entirely the point. Aidan was a soldier, a good man. He was dedicated to the cause, and worked well as both a subordinate and a commander. Elena was a whore with pretty brown eyes you picked up off the street in Concord."

"It was our condition!"

"It was a stupid condition. Aidan has proven himself as a worthy candidate for governorship of Boston."

"He has betrayed his creator."

"Bishop was not worthy!"

"It is not the way things are done! I can't trust you anymore, Giulietta. Tu mi hai tradito!"

Kate broke free of his grip and stumbled only slightly before turning her piercingly angry eyes back on him. "I betrayed _you_! What about _Danielle_? Huh? That wasn't 150 years ago you asshole, it was barely a month ago. One month. _How dare you!"_Her hand flew across his face with an echo flying around the room.

"Nothing happened."

"So, when you say it, it's true but when I say it, it's a lie? Get out of my sight."

"Kate, we aren't finished talking about -"

_"Out! Now!"_

As a vase hit the back of the door, Alexander scurried out into the hall, feeling angry and hurt, and more than a little ashamed. They would deal with this later. Tomorrow, maybe. Even bringing up the point of his double standard, he was still furious. She lied to him for over 150 years. He refused to let himself feel remorse, not yet. For now, he wanted to stay angry. It would suit him better. He needed to get drunk. Really drunk. Well, as drunk as a vampire could get - which in this case meant getting mildly inebriated.

* * *

Carson was absolutely...giddy. She had lost all sense of propriety and modesty and had now settled into reckless abandon. She danced without care, with anyone who wanted to join her. Her new found friends had actually taken to calling her 'Moxy'. She didn't care. The more tattoos a guy had, the more attention she paid him. Anything to forget. She made her way back to bar, hopping on a bar stool and sipping her Lime Daiquiri. As soon as she left the crowd, she felt a pit worm it's way into her stomach and forced herself to ignore it. She noted to herself that she was surprisingly clear headed, given the fact that she had more or less liberated the bar of half their liquor.

She finished off her Daiquiri with the intention of returning to the dance floor, but felt a chill crawl up her spine. Her eyes wandered the room, searching for what could have caused it. She felt her heartbeat slow when she saw him and realized, abruptly, that this was who she had been looking for. He was different than the rest of the people in the place, too graceful to be human. She recognized his difference as it was, but also knew that it was not the same difference as the monster that she had killed. Regardless, this difference would suit her purpose.

"Barkeep, another, please." He gave her a stern look but got a glass down anyway.

As she was planning out how to get his attention, he came and sat next to her at the bar, seemingly out of the blue.

"You look a little lonely, sitting here all by yourself."

"Liberated, maybe. Libated, definitely. But lonely? No, never lonely."

"And a fan of Burlesque, apparently."

Carson gave a short bark of laughter. "A man who actually sat through the movie... Well, I must say I'm impressed. Unless you're gay...That would make it less impressive. Not that I have anything against homosexuality or anything," She said quickly, realizing that what she had said could have been taken the wrong way.

He chuckled. "Don't worry. I didn't take it the wrong way. I'm Alexander, by the way," He offered his hand to her.

"Carson, but I also go by the name of Moxy, according to the drunk college kids over there," She placed her hand in his and shook it, only to have him kiss it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you then, Moxy. Tell me, do you live up to your name?"

"Well, that remains to be seen, now doesn't it? But not now. Seeing is for later, behind closed doors. Now is a time for talking, I think."

He smiled, taking a shine to this girl that emanated both sadness and fire. "Talking it is, then. What do you do for a living?"

"Living, or existing? For living, I write. It makes me happy, and hopefully makes others happy. For existing, well... I'm afraid I haven't really gotten that part down yet. I've made a very decent living off of my royalties from my novels, but that money won't last forever and as much as I love writing, I can't exist in this world off that money alone."

"That's an interesting way of putting it. You've found your passion, and made money from it, but you don't want to continue existing from it?"

"There are far better things I could be spending my time on. Writing teen fiction novels is fun, but it doesn't save twelve year olds in Ethiopia and India and Pakistan from being sold into prostitution. It doesn't save lives in AIDS/HIV ridden countries."

"So, you want to save the world?"

"Hardly. I'd much rather sit at my desk in my Victorian manor living off money made from people who can read. But I can't, not knowing the reality of this world."

"You, my dear, are a paradox."

"Perhaps. I'm faced with truth and hate myself for wanting to ignore it, but can't." Carson smiled sardonically, taking a delicate sip of her otherwise untouched Daiquiri. "But enough about me. What do _you_do for a living?"

"Me? Well, I'm not so philosophical as you nor as noble. I'm a CEO of Maritime Industries."

"And, as CEO, what do you do, exactly?"

"I delegate, run interference with other companies in other countries."

"I see, and is it satisfying?"

"How do you mean?"

"Do you take pleasure in your work? Is it fulfilling?"

Carson took the time to really look him over while he was thinking of how to respond. He had dark, wavy hair that was tucked behind his ears, just above shoulder length. He was tall, around six two or so, give or take a couple of inches, with inexplicably dark eyes. His skin was a light tan in color, not like he had been in the sun or a tanning booth, but flush with color. He had a somewhat scruffy stubble that made him all the more attractive, though she found it odd for a CEO to be unshaven like that. He was so young too, perhaps barely older than she herself.

"It's fulfilling in it's own way." He started to speak, and Carson quickly returned her attention to his words rather than his appearance. "It is my passion to lead, something I have always been very good at, so in that way I am fulfilled. The work my company does is less fulfilling, however. I started working there as a college grad, shuffling papers for even the mail carrier. But, one of the CEO's took an interest in me. I soon became his personal assistant and, as soon as a new position opened up in management, he placed me in it. After that, I was on the fast track. I never really had a chance to work elsewhere because I was advancing so quickly... I never really gave thought to what the company did because I never thought I would be there long enough to even change out the ink cartridge of the printer."

Carson laughed, nodding. She felt herself relaxing and was surprised to find that she didn't feel all that depressed anymore. She felt connected to this man, interestingly enough.

"So, Moxy. How about a dance?"

Carson smiled and hopped off the bar stool, sauntering onto the dance floor slowly. She looked over her shoulder with a grin and said "Only if you think you can keep up." Alexander laughed and took off after her into the crowd.

* * *

Aidan had decided to spend the night at the hospital since Josh was spending his out in the woods. He felt like the hospital might be a good way to clear his head, _and_to not think about what Bishop would do to him next time they met… alone. Aidan also didn't want to think about Katherine, he hoped that she wouldn't think this little… escapade… to be something more than it was. He had gone through that already; hiding from Alexander, and hoping that he never found out about his liveliness.

Working had helped distract him; a car accident on Interstate 93 had taken all of his attention. Multiple victims, and lots of blood, was at least able to take his mind off of people and put it on something else, even if it was his hunger.

Aidan was walking out of an ICU room, taking off the blood stained surgical gown, and the latex gloves, placing them in a hazardous waste receptacle. He walked away quickly and took a deep breath in hopes that he could quell his hunger, only to hear an ever so familiar voice from down the hall.

"Aidan!" Sammi said as she jogged down the hall.

"Sammi?" Aidan said shocked, having completely forgotten about her. "Uh… how long have you been working here?"

"About four days now… I thought you were planning on helping me out these first few days…" Sammi paused, and Aidan felt ashamed, he had promised to help her figure out the ropes around here, but with Josh's kidnapping hadn't. "But I guess I've almost got it down now… though it did take me all three days to get it down."

"Yeah, sorry… something came up."

"I figured as much, 'cause Josh wasn't here either. I was just a little worried since no one seemed to know what happened to you two."

"You were worried?" Aidan asked surprised.

"Um…" Sammi said searching for the right words to say. "Yeah, I mean… all of us were, you two just like, disappeared."

"Yeah, Josh visited his family, and I went up to New York to visit an old friend."

"I've always liked New York, but, I could never live there. Too many people for me… I like Boston, it's big but not too big. Sort of a cozy feel, you know?"

"Yeah, I like it too, I always seem to be coming back here."

"Well… I hope you had a good time with your old friend, and didn't party too hard."

* * *

Kate had shown up at the hospital in hopes of finding Aidan, but had been distracted by a sheet posted on the front doors… "Receptionist Wanted"

Kate had gone to the front desk and asked the nurse there where she could sign up for the Receptionist job. The nurse told her to find the main office, and there she would have to fill in some paper work, and then have an interview. Kate wasn't too excited about the whole process, so she decided to just compel the person into giving her the job, and make it easier on everyone. So she now had a job, and she could get back to what she had originally come to the hospital for… Aidan.

She walked down the almost empty hall, with only the click-clacking of her heels on the white tile breaking the silence. She rounded a corner and was happy to see Aidan, but then stopped when she saw he was talking with another girl. A tall blonde that somehow managed to look attractive in green scrubs. Figures.

Kate decided to stay and peep around the corner to listen and watch them from afar. With her vampyric hearing she could hear them perfectly, and with sneaking a few glances here and there, she realized that this new girl was flirting with him.

Not only that, but Aidan appeared to be flirting _back _with her. Each moment that passed was pissing her off even more, and she soon decided that men, in general, sucked and that a lesson had to be taught. While she wasn't _really_angry with Aidan, her husband was unavailable for punishment and Aidan had already spurned her advances, giving her a reason to torment him a little.

* * *

"So Aidan, would you want to go out for drinks later tonight, once our shifts are over?" Sammi said hopefully.

Aidan's heart sank, "Sorry Sammi, I signed up for a double shift tonight, so I can't." Its not that he didn't want to go with her, because he did, for the first time in a long time he wanted to go out, but what he said was true.

"Oh, no problem, I guess we'll do a rain check then?" Sammi said a little depressed.

"Definitely," Aidan said honestly, and with a smile.

Sammi smiled too since he had just laid her fear of him being uninterested to rest with that response. "Well if you get off early I might still be at the bar, so let me know."

"Yeah… so what's your number?" Aidan said, realizing that Sammi had done this on purpose so he had to ask for it.

"It's…" Sammi began, but someone cut her off.

"Hello Aidan," Kate said nonchalantly as she walked, rather sassily, over to the pair.

"Kate?" Aidan asked surprised.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Kate asked Aidan while looking at Sammi intently.

"Um… sure," Aidan said wondering about Kate's intention. "Kate, this is my new friend Sammi. Sammi this is an old friend Kate."

"Nice to meet you," Sammi said smiling, and extending her hand, which surprised Kate. After a moment or two Kate shook her hand firmly, and got a firm hand shake back.

"So what brings you to SCG?" Sammi asked politely.

"SCG?"

"Suffolk County General," Sammi said realizing she was talking to a newbie.

"Oh, I was looking for a job, luckily there was a receptionist spot open, and the interviewer just couldn't say no," Kate said with a smile, that Aidan knew meant she had compelled the interviewer.

"Well welcome to the family!" Sammi said excitedly, though Aidan wasn't at all happy about this arrangement.

"Speaking of, I was about to go have a few drinks, and was wondering if either of you wanted to join me and maybe help me get adjusted?" Kate said, already knowing that Sammi would most likely say yes, since she had overheard their conversation.

"Sure, I'll join you. I was just thinking about getting a drink myself."

"Really?" Kate said, trying to sound surprised. "I think you and I are going to get along very well. And maybe you and I should do dinner some time? I'm new to Boston… and I don't have any friends… aside from Aidan, of course."

"Actually, I'd enjoy that. I'm new to Boston too, and aside from my roommate I don't know anyone here. I met Aidan a few days ago when my roommate came in after falling off a ladder…" Sammi paused, "Anyway, we should get going if we want to get to Lucky's in time for 'Girl's Night Out' discounts. See you tomorrow Aidan."

Sammi looked at Kate, who gave her a nod, so Sammi walked away to go get her purse and car keys. Kate soon turned to follow, but as she walked away she looked over her shoulder at Aidan with a smirk and said, "Bye, Aidan."

* * *

Carson and Alexander had danced for well over an hour before returning to the bar. Things were starting to die down now, a little bit anyway. The place was still packed, but it was now about socializing and drinking more than it was dancing.

"So, what do you think of me now, Mr. CEO?"

"I think you've got Moxy, and you were aptly named." They shared a laugh and looked at each other for a moment, pausing their conversation to share in the moment of happiness.

"So, do you...maybe...want to get out of here?" Carson asked tentatively, being slightly unsure since it had been awhile since she'd done anything like this... and was more than a little intoxicated and wasn't sure whether or not she had actually said that properly.

"You know, I don't think -"

"Alexander, there you are!" At that moment, a voluptuous red-head latched herself onto his arm.

Carson looked down and slid off the bar stool, fleeing the scene. While she didn't get to hear the rest of his sentence, it sounded like the beginning of a rejection. The red head latching onto his arm just reinforced her decision to go home and get some sleep.

* * *

"And, who might you be?" Alexander asked, slightly irritated with the vampire girl who had just driven away his companion. Well, he had her phone number. He resolved himself to call her tomorrow, and apologize...maybe even take her out to lunch. She was an interesting girl, one who recognized him for being, well, not human, and wasn't afraid of him.

"I'm Rebecca."

"I see, and why are you talking to me?"

"That human girl wasn't worth your time. She reeks of sadness and depression; not much of a meal."

"And?"

"And maybe I was thinking that you and I could have some fun."

"How do you know who I am?"

Rebecca pursued her lips. "Bishop sent me. He wanted to make sure that you were having a good time in Boston."

Alexander gave a thoughtful hm and looked her over out of the corner of his eye. She was comely enough, and though her personality left something to be desired, he really wasn't interested in her for talking. "A good time? Well, it _is_a distinct possibility that I haven't been looking in the right places. Maybe you would care to show me?" He smiled, his dark eyes stormy and lively.

"I would be happy to." She gave him a sultry smile and took him by the hand, leading him out of the bar. Alexander cast his eyes around the bar, looking to see if Carson was still here. When he didn't see her, he sighed and continued forward, letting Rebecca lead him out of the bar.

* * *

**A/N2: Thank you to all who continue to read this, and stick with us. Thanks to the new people: ice-queen1318, DarkAngel135, TheDoctorWhoFan01,and Azule228**

**And the reviewers: WaffleNinja, and TheDoctorWhoFan01(who wrote 2)**


	7. Chapter 5

**A/n: Thank you to everyone who has read and continues to read our story. Sorry this one is late, but we're out of school now so more time to update (yay!). A big thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, alerted or favorited this story: Waffleninja, Aurora 528, TarotChild Conan, makay15, Magnira, TheDoctorWhoFan01, Em, Azariah Everest Luciano, Azule228, CelticWitch18, domino3eb, Ookami Sakura, pontiger27, xXwhoknowsXx, XxXCarnageXxX, Coffeegirl182, Dex-E!, kutoki, laughsforlove, Lir E. Hjort, and transit.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

* * *

Rebecca sighed as she awoke from her sleep. She didn't need to sleep, no vampire did, but she did anyway…it reminded her of better times. The Egyptian cotton sheets felt amazing, soft and cool against her naked body. She wrapped the sheet around herself and padded softly into the kitchen to make coffee, despising herself. Last night had been amazing, that she would concede. Alexander was a generous and experienced lover, not at all brutal or controlling like Bishop had portrayed him to be. She recalled the moment when Bishop commanded her to entertain him, and felt no shame.

_"Ah, Rebecca," Bishop smiled, opening his arms wide. "Excellent. I have a guest that needs," Bishop paused for a moment to let his eyes travel up and down her body. "Entertaining. You will show him a good time while he's here in Boston."_

_"Find yourself someone else to be a whore. It's not my calling."_

_"It is your calling if I say it is your calling, do you understand me?" Bishop's fingers curled tightly around her arm, and Rebecca was sure it would have broken by now had she not been a vampire. "Listen, Rebecca, and listen well. This man is not to be trifled with, and he is to be kept happy. My life," Bishop threw her into a chair, gesturing for a glass of wine to be brought. "And yours, all of ours, actually, are in serious peril."_

_"How so?"_

_"Well, Aidan just can't seem to let things leave well enough alone. He just couldn't let his dog die, and in order to save him her brought her here."_

_"Her?"_

_"Kate, his ex-lover and patron," Bishop offered her a glass of wine. "About a hundred and fifty years ago, Kate and Alexander, the man you'll be entertaining, got into a spat. As a result, Kate took Aidan as a paramour for almost ten years, until she and Alexander reconciled. Part of their reconcile was the agreement that both of their paramours would be destroyed, Alexander destroyed his but Kate… She had a soft spot for Aidan, and decided to let him live, fake his death, and sent him back to me to keep him hidden from her husband."_

_"And, so what?"_

_"So, when I captured his dog and Aidan realized he couldn't save him, he went to her for help. She went to the council, and now I am facing death and because I am facing death, you all," Bishop gestured to the clan of vampires in the room. "By being a part of this family, also face death."_

_"Aidan wouldn't -"_

_"Aidan doesn't care about you, Rebecca. He cares about his dog and his human pets and nothing else."_

_"Now, by letting Alexander know that Aidan is alive and that Kate came here for him, I may have just saved our lives. He could talk to the council on our behalf, but only if he is kept happy."_

_"Why me?"_

_"Because, my dear, you aren't a whore. You are genuine, and have a little more class than the women we keep here."_

_"And yet you want me to sell my body? That sounds like a whore to me," Rebecca snarled, downing the glass of win._

_"Not just your body. Your companionship, comfort, and if it comes to it, yes, your body. I promise you, my dear, no woman ever wandered into bed with Alexander by compulsion. Not one. Besides, it's not like Aidan will care. He and Kate are rather preoccupied at the moment."_

No, Rebecca did not regret the night with Alexander. She may have even saved a girl from death, or worse. It was true that the blonde talking to Alexander had reeked of sadness and depression, but as she sat there with Alexander, Rebecca had felt that depression diminish and could see the light shine through. Maybe Alexander wouldn't have killed her, but Rebecca didn't want that girl going through what she had gone through. It was a moment of compassion, one Aidan would have been proud of.

As the coffee percolated, Rebecca allowed her fingers to trace her skin. She knew Alexander didn't love her at all, knew that what they did last night was done out of duty, for the both of them. She recognized the hurt in him, saw that he needed comfort, and willingly gave it. She rolled her neck and let her cup fill with coffee, the smell comforting her to what she had done. She knew she didn't exactly cheat on Aidan, they weren't even really together, but that's what it felt like to her.

She sighed again, wondering where the remainder of her life was headed. It all seemed so bleak to her now. No career. No kids. No life. Was this what she was destined to be? A courtesan? She heard rustling from the bed and knew Alexander to be awake now. Wordlessly, she passed him a second cup of coffee, turning around to meet his eyes.

"You should go."

Rebecca wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. "Of course. I'll get dressed and be on my way."

"I love my wife, very, very much. And," He paused, seemingly frustrated "I get jealous very easily. I feel like I have to pay her back every single time she does something like this, and it's not right. I was in desperate need of comfort and my ego needed stroking, so thank you for that, truly. But, it would be best if you left soon. It won't go over well if Kate catches you here."

"Really," A new voice was heard and Rebecca turned to see a woman standing in the doorway, a mess of beautiful dark curls spilling over her shoulders and back. "You **think**?" She slammed the door behind her, and Rebecca knew that this was Kate.

"Kate -"

"Quiet! I came here to talk, Romeo. I came to reconcile before either of us did or said something regrettable, because _I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt!_" She laughed, and though Rebecca thought she was being hard on Alexander, given how much of his story she'd heard, she heard the heartbreak in her voice. Kate was hurting now, very much so. "Too little, too late, I guess."

"Kate, I was hurting and I needed comfort."

"So, that's your excuse. You were hurting? Because, God forbid, you actually **go to your wife **for comfort? A wife that was hurting just as much as you for being accused of infidelity after five hundred years of marriage!"

"I didn't think -"

"No, you didn't think. At least, not with your brain," Kate's eyes turned on Rebecca now, and she felt an involuntary shudder stretch from the base of her spine to the very back of her neck. "And you, where did he find _**you**_?"

"A bar," Rebecca's voice came out in a shaky whisper, betraying the fear she felt. "B-bishop sent me to keep him entertained."

"_Bishop?_Oh," Kate let out an exasperated chuckle. "Of course. That conniving son of a bitch! He gets deposed, summons you," Kate waved a hand at Alexander "Under the pretense of catching me in an act of infidelity, and then hires this whore to seduce you and drive us apart, effectively securing his position as Boston's leader."

Rebecca merely nodded, unable to do anything but confirm it. She moved to walk across the room and pick up her clothes, which turned out to be a mistake. Kate cut her off and held Rebecca's throat in one hand, slamming her into the wall.

"You _knew_ he was married, _knew_ he was **mine**, and you _still _slept with him?"

"Bishop ordered me to. He told me that if he was deposed, he and the rest of us would be killed to make way for the new regime."

"You, my dear, were played. Aidan, is the new regime, the new leader of Boston."

"What?" Rebecca's voice cracked, and she felt tears well up in her eyes.

"I am truly sorry for you being manipulated by Bishop into doing this, I really am, but what you have done here, last night, is inexcusable." Kate smiled sadly, brushing the tears from Rebecca's face with her free hand. "And so, you must die." Kate pulled Rebecca away from the door, and lifted her a little higher in the air, only to slam her backwards and downwards simultaneously, onto the oak coat hook screwed into the door. Rebecca gave a gasp of horror and let out one final sob before dissolving into ash.

Alexander stood in the kitchen, mute, unable to speak for the damage that he had just done. As the pile of ash gathered onto the floor, Kate opened the door and stepped over it. She turned back to look at Alexander, this time with tears streaming down her face, her eyes betraying more sorrow than anger.

"_Romeo Alessandro Montague, __**we are finished**__,_" Kate's voice wobbled a little and she could barely speak lest she sob. _"Don't look for me this time, because wherever you look, is where __**I will not**__ be."_ She shut the door behind her and walked down the hallway at a clipped pace, the sobs overtaking her as the elevator doors closed. Alexander remained motionless, but for his hands falling to his sides. The only noise that could be heard, was that of a coffee mug hitting the tile floor and shattering into several pieces, until Alexander himself came apart.

* * *

Aidan checked the clock on the wall, it was 4 a.m., he had been in the hospital for only eight hours, but he felt like it had been forever. The sun wasn't even up yet when Aidan looked out the front doors. It had been a long ass night, taking care of the numerous patients in the ER ward was constant. He had just finished his round and decided to take a little break. He walked out the front doors to take a little walk, and get out of the stuffy halls of the hospital.

As he stared off into the night he was worried about Sammi, and what Kate may have done to her last night. Aidan didn't want to hear of a blonde chick being found in an alley this morning, but he didn't put it past Kate. Aidan would have tried to stop them from leaving together, but another nurse had pulled him away on an urgent call.

He promised himself after his shift was over he was going to check and see if Sammi had checked in for her shift at 8 a.m.. It was still four hours away, but he had to hope that Kate wanted to stay on Aidan's good side, and wouldn't do anything to change that.

A police car pulled up beside him and rolled down its window. "Aidan," Bishop said smoothly.

"Bishop," Aidan said not in the mood to talk with him.

"We _need _to talk…" when Aidan didn't move Bishop added, "Alone."

Aidan saw an alley not far from where they were standing, "Fine, this way."

Bishop parked his car and got out, and followed Aidan to the alley. Before going down the alley, Bishop made sure that no one was watching them. He then walked into the alley, "We have a problem…"

"What problem Bishop?"

Bishop grabbed Aidan by the throat, obviously angry and said, "How dare you bring Kate into this. She came in here and has relieved me of Boston," he paused. "I knew you were low Aidan, but this, going above me… and to _Kate_no less. I told you to stay away from her. Do you know what kind of repercussions are going to happen because of this?" Bishop relaxed his grip on Aidan so he could talk.

"What do you mean repercussions?"

"I mean Alexander," Aidan said letting go of Aidan all together.

"He knows? But how?" Aidan said frantically.

"He knows everything that goes on with _his wife_. Now he is breathing down my neck about why you are still alive, and why Kate is fraternizing with you."

"What did you tell him bishop?" Aidan asked worried.

"I didn't have to tell him anything, he already knew," Bishop said lying.

"Wait… he isn't here, in Boston is he?"

"What do you think Aidan…" Bishop paused to see the fear creeping into Aidan's eyes. "Of course. He has to come here and retrieve his wife, and…"

"And what?"

"He wants you dead Aidan."

"Like that's new. But you didn't tell him where to find me right?"

"Of course not… I have everything taken care of… I sent someone over to… oh how do I say this… to _comfort_him," Bishop said menacingly.

Aidan had to think about what Bishop just said, before he realized what Bishop was saying. "You didn't…"

"Yes Aidan, I sent Rebecca to show our guest around Boston."

"Hasn't she done enough, and now you are turning her into a call girl?"

"She's a good little vampire, she does what she's told when she's told, and without question or sass… unlike _someone_in our family."

"Bishop you can't use her that way, she is already confused, and now you sent her off to do god knows what with Alexander… Do you know what he could do with her?"

"Oh he won't do anything to harm her… He knows that I am willing to help him… with _anything_, and Rebecca is just my symbol of this."

Aidan couldn't believe what Bishop had told him. Rebecca was being used, and Bishop was her pimp. He couldn't take it anymore, "Tell me where she is… now! Or I swear to God I'll…"

But Bishop interrupted him, "Or you'll what? What are you going to do Aidan? You know you can't kill me, especially when you're not feeding correctly…"

"Bishop, just tell me where she is…" Aidan pleaded.

"If you go in there Aidan, Alexander will kill you, there is no doubt in my mind. He wanted you dead a hundred and fifty years ago, and he still wants you dead."

"Where is…"

"Listen to me!" Bishop shouted at Aidan, shoving him up against a wall and bared his fangs, showing Aidan he was serious.

"No Bishop!" Aidan said shoving Bishop back. He snarled, showing Bishop his fangs and said, "I am done listening to you. Now tell me where Rebecca is!" Aidan took a garbage can, and hurled it at Bishop in anger.

* * *

Josh rubbed his eyes again, for what seemed like the hundredth time. His eyes had to be red and puffy at this rate. He rolled his shoulders and tried to get settled into his human skin. The night after he turned was always the worst. His wolf senses hadn't quite faded yet, his skin felt itchy and raw, like he had sunburn all over his body. Still, all of this was nothing compared to the sheer brightness of the fluorescent lamps. Everything was bright and harsh and his eyes just weren't up to taking the abuse yet. If his eyes had been working like they were supposed to, he undoubtedly would have seen Nora before he ran into her.

She stumbled backwards but didn't fall, as Josh had instinctively moved closer to her and caught her before she fell, making the action appear as though he dipped her instead of caught her.

"Hey, um, Nora."

"Josh! Where have you been? I tried calling your house for hours and no one answered!"

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I, uh, went to visit my family and check up on my sister and didn't think to forward my phones.

"Ok, well, whatever. Listen, we need to talk."

"Of course! Yeah, sure! But, can we do it later? I'm kind of behind and I really…"

"No this cannot wait!" Nora grabbed his arm and yanked him urgently into the break room.

"Okay…" Josh allowed himself to be pulled into the break room and steadied Nora, who had stumbled a little in her haste. "What's going on?"

"Josh, I've thought about this a lot, and I think I can get through this calmly, but I need you to be calm too, okay?"

"Nora, you're kind of starting to freak me out. What's this about?"

"I'm pregnant."

"You…you're…you're…pregnant?" His voice cracked and he felt his breathing become slightly labored. Subliminally, his mind told him that he was having a panic attack. He sat down slowly and tried not to come to pieces. "How?"

"How? Really, Josh, do you want me to answer that?"

"What? No, no! I just, I don't remember when we weren't…" As he voiced his thoughts, he felt himself go pale. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Go figure, huh? It really only does take once."

"Are…are you sure it's mine?"

"…Josh, I just told you I'm pregnant, and your inherent reaction after you acknowledge it, is to ask if _it's yours?_"

"No, Nora, wait!" Josh hurriedly stood and pulled her back as she attempted to storm off.  
"Please, wait. That didn't…come out right. You have to understand."

"Understand what, exactly? That you think I'm some loose tramp?"

"No! God, no! No, no, no! I have a medical condition, Nora. I never thought I would be able to have children. And my family, my family is so screwed up..."

"What?"

"Yeah. I found out two years ago and it never even occurred to me after I found out that I could have kids. It's…it's the reason my fiancé and I broke up. It devastated me, Nora. I've only ever wanted a family, a normalish family with a semi-normal life, and when I found out… I abandoned everything; MIT, my family, and my fiancé, though she broke up with me before I acknowledged it."

"You think that you're family is the only screwed up family? My family is made up of...drug addicts, and drunks, and crack whores. I never wanted to have a child because I didn't want them to be put into the same situation that I was, and I am _terrified_that I will screw this kid up, but I am willing to give this a shot. I am willing to look past my family and make a conscious decision that will be best for this child. Now, what medical condition?"

"Umm, well, now, I'm…" His voice faltered and lowered to a pitch she couldn't hear.

"What was that?"

"I'm a werewolf."

"…God damn it Josh! Enough with this bullshit!"

"Nora, please, I'm not lying. I'm serious."

"Whatever, I'm done."

Nora fled the break room, and stormed down the hallway, Josh hot on her heels. She couldn't believe what that prick had just said to her. Did he honestly expect her to believe him? She pushed open the side door and made to walk to her car, but was forced to stop in her tracks. As a garbage can hurtled towards her, she felt Josh pull her out of the way and shield her with his body. From over his shoulder, she could see Aidan and another man squaring off in the alley. His eyes were coal black and he was baring his...fangs?.

* * *

Alexander knew he had fucked up big this time, knew that the results of this fight would have lasting consequences on not only them but, potentially, New York itself. Clans would begin fighting once they learned that the dynamic duo had split, fighting for control. He would be vulnerable, she would be vulnerable, and New York itself would be vulnerable. He needed help, advice, and comfort. As he picked his pants up off the floor and deposited them in the laundry basket in the corner of the room, a piece of paper slipping out of one of the pockets. He picked it up and unfolded it, quickly recognizing it as the phone number from the girl last night, Carson.

He snorted, recognizing that what he was about to do was incredibly stupid. Still, it couldn't hurt to try. Who knows? Maybe she could offer him what he was looking for, and maybe he could help her in the process. An hour later, after an awkward and short phone call, he was walking out the door to take her to lunch. She had been reluctant, at first, but had conceded. They met at Café Media Luna, an upscale restaurant in Uptown. He sat on the roof and drank his coffee, feeling the breeze feather through his hair, and glinted his eyes against the sun. It was a bright, sunny day, and one that did not suit his mood, but he hoped that that would soon change.

He smelled her before he saw her, could hear her coming up the stairs. She smelled of honeysuckle and roses, but faintly – 'twas not perfume, but the natural scent one acquires when working in a garden. Her hair was unkempt, had been hastily pulled back into a bun, and the dirt lining the legs of her jeans betrayed her.

"I confess, I had not expected you to call me."

"Oh, why ever not?"

"The red-head seemed particularly attached to you."

"Rebecca is an old friend, one I had not seen for some time. She was rather excited to see me though, was she not?"

"Just a friend, then?"

"Indeed, indeed. I confess that I had intentions upon entering the bar that night, but Rebecca was not among them. My wife and I are separated, and I was going through a rather rough night last night."

"You're married?"

"For now. My wife… she betrayed me."

"Oh...I'm sorry. But, then, I don't think this appropriate either..." She stood, as though to leave, but Alexander reached out to clasp her wrist.

"Please don't leave. I know this must seem highly inappropriate but, I need someone to talk to and I thought that maybe that person would be you."

"That's awfully presumptuous of you, don't you think?"

"Oh, yes, yes it is, but I can see it in you. The sadness. It's not the same as mine, but it's there. So, please, advise me, help me, and maybe I'll be able to do the same for you." Alexander was aware of how crazy he sounded, was sure that she was likely to flee any moment, but couldn't help but hope. He was pleasantly surprised when she sat back down and summoned the waiter to bring her a glass of water.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to tell me what the problem is or am I going to have to guess?"

* * *

Sammi had just returned to the hospital after getting the early bird shift off. It was good to get some rest, but she still had to show up to work at 8, which was better than her usual 4 or 5 am shift. It had been a rather boring morning, only one surgery which was a routine pressure relieving surgery after a car accident early this morning. The guy was going to be fine, and Sammi would be surprised if he didn't leave the hospital after a few days of bed rest.

Sammi sat down in the reception area, taking a load off. She was so tired, and couldn't wait for tonight. She and Carson were throwing a "house warming" party... more for them to get to know the neighbors, and hopefully see Josh and Aidan. Sammi stretched her arms out and let out a long, loud yawn. After which she leaned back in the reclining rolly chair, got comfortable, and shut her eyes, ready for a little cat nap.

"Hey Sammi!" Kate's familiar voice said, rather loudly and knocking Sammi out of her comfortable position. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No," Sammi lied. She wasn't really in the mood for talking at this moment, but since Kate was new, Sammi figured that she would only have to deal with her for another week or two, and by then Kate will have found new friends to bug. It's not that Sammi didn't like Kate, its just ever since their little friendly girl's night Kate wouldn't stop talking or texting her. But what was more incessant was how she kept asking about Aidan. It was always Aidan this, or Aidan that... and it was starting to get on Sammi's nerves. She didn't have the patience right now... on a Friday... after one of the craziest weeks of her life, thus far anyway. "I wasn't sleeping, just relaxing until the next surgery. Gotta take every chance you get to relax."

"Oh, well I missed you this morning after our crazy night last night," Kate said.

"Well I was supposed to have the shift off anyway so I figured going for a few drinks would be nice," Sammi paused, and noticed that Kate had a newspaper in her hand. "So anything good in the news this morning?"

"Oh, this," Kate said waving the newspaper around, "I wasn't reading the news, I'm looking for a place to stay, but there really is nothing in my budget."

Sammi, who had really not wanted to talk to Kate just a few moments before, now felt bad. This poor girl was just as new as she was, but without a best friend side kick like Carson to help her out. It's not that Kate and Sammi's conversations last night were bad, Sammi just really didn't want to talk this morning and especially to someone as talkative as Kate. So now Sammi had to make a decision and fast.

"Why don't you stay with me for a few weeks until you find a place?" Sammi said, realizing that Carson might not be too keen on a total stranger staying in their house. But Kate seemed like a nice girl, and last night was fun... besides how much time would Kate be spending at the house anyway while working at the hospital.

"Oh, Sammi you are too kind."

"No I really mean it. I just have to convince my room mate and best friend, but I think she'll be fine with it."

"Oh, alright. I'll just have to get my stuff."

"Yeah, we can go get it when I get off around 4 tonight, before the party."

"Party?"

"Yeah, Carson and I are throwing a house warming party for ourselves to get to know the neighbors... and I guess now you are part of it too. Aidan and his best friend Josh will be there too, so there will be a few people you know already there."

Kate smiled and said, "I always like a good party."

* * *

**You know the drill! Please review...they're like, better than chocolate and tiramisu to us. Feed the addiction. **

**Lots of Love,**  
**Amylase & Preston**


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